


Emperor of a New Dawn

by AstroPhantom (AstroGold)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Adventure, Altean lore, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Black Paladin Lotor, Castle of Lions - Freeform, F/F, F/M, Found Family, Galra big bang 2019, Galra customs, Nonbinary Character, Planetary Genocide, Pre-Canon, Space Adventure, Zarkon has the Black and Red Lions to start, Zarkon is one bad dude, alien customs, backstories, brief graphic description of death, gathering the lions, identity crisis, implied minor animal death, intimidation tactics/threats, moral crossroads, new Team Voltron, robotic animal cruelty, team-building journey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-21
Updated: 2019-08-21
Packaged: 2020-09-23 00:57:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 23,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20331403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AstroGold/pseuds/AstroPhantom
Summary: AU where everything starts the same, only this time, Zarkon has had possession of both the Black and Red Lions since the war began and he killed Alfor. Only catch is, once he started taking innocent lives, the Black Lion closed herself off to him and has kept her shield up ever since. As he tries to bond with her, he has Sendak try the same with Red, despite Lotor's argument that he should be his right-hand man, if not the Black Paladin himself.Now, early on in Zarkon's reign, tensions are at an all-time high between emperor and prince. Besides the paladin argument, Lotor insists that his way of working alongside the people of a quintessence-mining planet can make a difference, which infuriates Zarkon. Faced with the possible destruction of the planet, Lotor finds himself at a crossroads. Will he stand up to his father, against the empire, in an effort to make things right?As the Galra say, it's victory or death...





	1. Corruption (Prologue)

He was dead.

Zarkon, emperor of Daibazaal and head of Team Voltron, was dead. The Galra were without a leader and the Black Lion, her paladin.

In retrospect, the Black Lion should’ve considered this a preventive blessing for the universe.

Yet as the funeral ceremonies down on Altea wore on, and Alfor preached about how Zarkon had perished in a final desperate attempt to save his wife, a “tragedy written by the most devoted of loves,” Black’s spirit felt like it had been extinguished. Her bond with Zarkon had been rigid but powerful. Dominant, yet faithful.

And now it was gone.

As the ceremonies passed, Zarkon and Honerva's bodies were laid out for mourning for five quintants, as per Galra custom. With Daibazaal destroyed in order to close the rift, however, the royal couple was placed aboard Zarkon’s ship in a guarded room.

It was Alfor who made the decision.

In a gesture to honor his friend and the original Black Paladin, Alfor had the Black Lion maneuvered into an adjoining hangar bay on Zarkon’s ship. For those five quintants, Black would stand guard and keep vigil over her paladin, before being brought back to the Castle of Lions. It surged her with a fierce pride, protecting him one last time. No one would disturb him on her watch.

It was meant to be a touching tribute. The Alteans knew this. The Galra knew this. The rest of Team Voltron definitely knew this. _No one_ could’ve predicted how devastating a move it was.

Black was the first to know.

The moment Zarkon opened his eyes again, she automatically roared for him, scaring the guards assigned to her in the hangar bay. The ship dove into a frenzy; no one knew what brought on the sudden cry yet, but she did.

He was alive! Her paladin was alive again, his body resurrected by some miracle. He was back, and she was overjoyed, but...

Something was wrong with Zarkon’s spirit. As the ticks went on, Black could sense a change in his quintessence. It felt dark...corrupted somehow. Like it had reignited in the shadows of the universe, and was sent to the light to block it out.

When Zarkon emerged moments later and the guards realized this was the reason for her roar, the echoes from the sound had already faded. He was enlightened on his whereabouts—his home planet was no more—then promptly left for the bridge of the ship, sparing only an assessing glance towards Black for now. He may have been gone, but she could still sense his inner thoughts and feelings. She didn’t need to hear the message that followed.

“He must pay dearly for his crimes. Rise up and join your emperor! Revenge will be ours!”

That was all it took.

When the all-consuming flame of revenge against Alfor and Altea lit within Zarkon’s core, Black’s shield went up without question, and a new reality dawned on her.

Her paladin was still dead, and this...this monster had overshadowed his body. And she was now trapped on his ship, separated from her pride. The other lions needed her, but she couldn’t get to them. Not like this, not without a paladin, and not without risking herself to being used for evil should she drop her defenses.

All she could do to protect the rest of the team was to stay put, and not let _anyone_ in. Not until she was rescued. _If_ she was rescued.

She was a powerful weapon now in the clutches of an emperor hellbent on revenge and domination. A memorial, now tainted.

This was Alfor’s mistake.


	2. Nothing Stronger

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: robotic animal cruelty

It was lonely being strong.

Yet it was a fate the Black Lion accepted readily, and had endured for almost two thousand deca-phoebs. As long as she kept her shield up, Zarkon couldn't use her against the universe, and he couldn't use her to find the other lions of Voltron. Whatever he thought otherwise, he wasn't her paladin anymore.

That didn't stop him from trying, however.

Ever since the war began, Zarkon tried day-in and day-out to get past Black's shield. He was always impatient, always demanding, yet dangerously knowledgeable. He still felt entitled to his former bond with her, and while she never yielded, she could sense him searching for that connection. It unnerved her.

As his empire grew, the attempts to bond with her waned, and were replaced, but not forgotten. With his attention needed elsewhere more often, Zarkon assigned a team of scientists and engineers to try to penetrate her shield. It never worked, but they never stopped. Her shield was unlike anything they'd ever dealt with. For her, they became a nuisance, one that she had no choice but to bear behind silent eyes.

And there were always the threats.

Zarkon, in his frustration, would constantly threaten to destroy Black, shield and all, the more she denied him, and sometimes, he followed through. Often it was that he would try to crush her, but whenever he tried to do so, the strength of her shield became too much for the pressure chamber she was in, and the crushing device would crumple under the force.

The other main threat was Haggar and her druids. While none of their attempts ever worked, either, this threat frightened Black the most. Haggar's dark magic would surround her shield in a flurry of violet lightning, often frying the room they were in from the intensity, and while it didn't reach her, Black could sense it all from a distance. Cold, corrupt, and shockingly tempting. She would never give in, but that strange lure of shared origins from the rift, of raw quintessence, was _there_, and its presence was powerful.

When it came down to it though, there were only two things Zarkon and the Galra _could_ do with the Black Lion.

One, they could move her around to wherever Zarkon pleased through the use of a tractor beam on her shield.

Two, the emperor himself could use her as a reminder to the universe that as long as he had her, Voltron couldn't be formed, not unless he had all the lions. No one could stop him, he insisted. No one would be coming to save those he conquered.

This was the price Black had to pay to keep her powers out of Zarkon's clutches. Only patience and the potential horrors of the alternative kept her strong.

That, and the fact that she wasn't entirely alone.

To her chagrin, Zarkon also had the Red Lion.

He'd claimed Red as the spoils of victory after slaying Alfor on Altea. Black had sensed it—feeling the flame of her creator's spirit go out left her in pain. Alfor had taken Red alone down to his home planet to put a stop to Zarkon once and for all, but it proved to be a double-loss for Voltron: the fall of the Red Paladin, and _two_ lions now in Zarkon's possession.

Zarkon had immediately deemed that Sendak, his top commander and personal protégé, would become the new Red Paladin and his right-hand man in leading Voltron once they got all the lions. The search for those other lions became the empire's driving priority.

The Red Lion, of course, had also put his shield up for good as soon as Alfor fell. As such, he was subjected to the same experiments and threats as the Black Lion in the Galra's attempts to get past his shield. Zarkon also had Sendak try to bond with him, but it was useless. Red, if nothing else, was too stubborn to give in.

At one point, Zarkon started bringing Red to Black's hangar in the hope that Black would lower her shield if a fellow lion was present. It didn't work, but in such close quarters, the two of them were able to communicate through their shields with the Galra being none the wiser.

Whenever they were together though, Zarkon would take the opportunity to train Sendak, either in how to bond with his lion or in the various aspects of being a paladin. Had their situation been any different, Black and Red would have found the futility of their training amusing.

Nevertheless, this became their reality, with Red being sent off on Sendak's ship whenever the commander left to go conquer more planets for the empire.

A passive rebellion to keep further terror at bay.

* * *

Construction was well ahead of schedule.

Thanks to Lotor's innovation and leadership, he and the Aconites had sustainably mined more quintessence from Planet Atropa in a phoeb than they'd ever mined before. Because of it, the Galra Empire's new headquarters were shaping up to be completed in the coming phoeb. All that was left to be done were the lower pylons. Zarkon, Haggar, and various high-ranking officials had already moved into the main structure, and the structure's shining jewel, a massive high-powered ion cannon, larger than anything the empire had to that point, had been completed yesterday. Once the headquarters moved out of orbit of Atropa, the cannon would be ready for testing.

It seemed like this achievement was the only thing going right in Lotor's life at the moment, but it was tainted by the frustration that it was _only_ because his way of doing things was working, yet his effort was being ignored and undermined.

He just wanted recognition. Some acknowledgement that he had made a difference, one that could be used to further help the empire. His way could save the lives of their citizens, lives which his father was all-too-willing to toss aside in exchange for his _precious_ quintessence.

Though if Lotor was really being honest with himself, he just wanted to be out on his own ship on another adventure right then, looking into the latest unexplored planet he'd heard about. If his latest intel was correct, this planet could hold another clue to the fabled Oriande of Altean legend. A possible key to his own past.

But his forthcoming free time could be put to better use, and that was the problem he currently faced. The one he always seemed to face.

"...Father, please! The timing couldn't be better! When Sendak arrives for the maiden voyage of the _Zenquix_, you could start teaching me how to bond with the Red-"

"Enough!" Zarkon's voice rumbled off the metal walls as he strode into the Black Lion's hangar, Lotor hot on his trail. He came to a stop near a status panel. Shield integrity was still one hundred percent. As always. "Every time you uselessly beg to become a paladin, my patience thins. Now, update me on the mining progress."

Lotor opened his mouth to protest his request being brushed aside, but that nagging sense of self-preservation silenced him. He glanced at the Black Lion for a moment before answering, "Construction is still ahead of schedule. All the quintessence we'll need for the lower pylons should be gathered within eight quintants. After that, we can begin crew extraction from Atropa while the pylons are finished in orbit."

"Very well."

Lotor rolled his eyes at the non-praise and settled into a grimace. Yet just when he was about to turn and leave for his next task, Zarkon continued.

"Begin to make preparations to leave a fleet of sentries behind after it's finished. We'll continue to mine here for surplus."

Lotor gawked behind his father's back. That...this was not the plan. He knew what a "fleet of sentries" meant. As soon as the _Zenquix_ was done, the Aconites would become slaves for the empire. Expendable in the name of greed. That was...

"That wasn't part of our arrangement with the Aconites!" His small outburst drew a few muffled gasps from the scientists in the room, but he didn't care.

Zarkon's voice remained steady and deep as he read over more panels. "They are part of the empire. We will use them as we see fit."

"No, as _you_ see fit!" The implication made Zarkon finally turn towards his son. Lotor was the prince; his perspective should've matched that of his own. "Or have you forgotten that the only reason Atropa's quintessence yields are so successful are because of _my_ plan? We can save lives this way!"

One more shutdown and Lotor would be ready to start yelling. He almost wanted to dare him with just the slightest narrowing of his eyes, the tiniest effort to stand up even straighter, with shoulders back and an attitude of teeming rebellion.

Zarkon was the first to speak again, and his dangerous tone made Lotor's blood run cold. "Leave. Now."

The argument was far from over, if Lotor had anything to say about it, but that self-preservation instinct had taken over again. Jaw shut, he stiffly crossed his right arm over his chest in salute, if only for appearance's sake to the others in the room, and left the hangar without another word.

* * *

Lotor wasn't sure if he slept at all that night.

If it had been up to him, he would've returned to the town of Ulo down on Atropa and slept in his and Ven'tar's shared house. His best friend and roommate's presence might have calmed him down, along with some cuddling from Kova.

But with it already being so late, and him having some meetings regarding the lower pylons in the morning, he found it practical to stay in his new chambers aboard the _Zenquix_ tonight.

With his sword, casually under the covers.

He'd seen his father lash out physically at others before, for mistakes or bad news far less troubling than Lotor's views. If it wasn't for the fact that he was the crown prince, he would've been exiled or quite possibly killed by his father long ago. And with their ever-heating feud, either about Lotor being a paladin or his way of running things, it was only a matter of time before Zarkon snapped, son or no.

So, if he had to sleep in the same structure as him, sword.

The extra security did little to ease his mind, however.

Years of spite and disgust for the empire's ways clouded his mind like an electric haze, and he tossed and turned in his bed with each thought. The unnecessary need to ruthlessly take lives shocked Lotor, where other Galra had become indifferent. It always did, no matter how much time had passed over his life.

_Victory or death_.

Neither seemed rather appealing anymore. Death never had, but perhaps that's because he'd been born into a world where victory was expected of him, and he was to expect victory. Death would be a footnote in the building blocks of his history.

_Victory _and_ death_.

His victory, their death. A packaged deal.

He shivered under the covers as a new thought crossed his mind. He didn't want to take lives like his father did, no. But if he kept bending to Zarkon's will whenever he tried to change things, if he let his own need to survive silence him like it always did, he would be just as guilty of murder as if he'd given the order directly, no matter how innovative his new ideas were.

He couldn't stay quiet anymore. He had to be willing to accept the danger and risk his own life so his ways could make a difference. So he could stand up for others' lives.

_My victory, _my_ death_.

A grumbling purr tore Lotor from his sleep and he fell off of his bed, scrambling to reach back up and grab the hilt of his sword before jumping into a defensive stance towards his door.

"What was that?!" he asked in a drowsy state of alertness.

It seemed he had fallen asleep, if just barely, hence his confusion as to his situation. He knew Kova was back home safe in Ulo, with Ven'tar. But he was on the _Zenquix_. So why did he hear a cat's purr?

As tempted as he was to shrug it off and try to wrestle with sleep again, Lotor shook himself awake. He definitely heard _something_. It'd been loud enough, which made him wonder: did anyone else hear it?

After shrugging on his robe, one hand always on his sword, Lotor peeked out the door of his chambers and looked around. The hall was empty, a fact punctuated only by the dim green light of the sconces lining the walls.

Had there been a cat outside his door? As unlikely as it was aboard the ship, given his father's “distaste” for living felines, it wasn't impossible. Perhaps a visiting commander had a pet cat like he did.

Whatever the reason, Lotor found himself wandering the halls. No one else was up; his path didn't cross with any guards, as the ship didn't have a full staff yet and only a minimum crew oversaw things at night.

He didn't know when exactly he decided to go this way, but at some point Lotor found himself scanning into the Black Lion's hangar.

A slight gasp of wonder escaped him when the doors opened. The lights were low, and the purple of the Black Lion's shield stood out in a tranquil glow. He kept his eyes on the lion as he walked in—sword dropping to his hip, on stand-by—and chuckled.

"Well, you're not the cat I'm looking for, but you're still a sight to behold," he offered towards the lion. Her eyes remained blank, yet for a moment, Lotor felt like she would listen to him if she could. In his sleepy state, he'd take that.

"I don't suppose you'd be able to stop Zarkon from taking over the Aconites?" he asked half-heartedly. With every passing tick, he took another step closer to the lion, and his mind began to wander.

_My victory, my death_.

Now that Lotor was conscious, the thought frightened him a little bit. It sounded noble, but also that much more real now. If he truly stood up to Zarkon for the rights of his people, he had no doubt Zarkon would try to kill him.

That instinct flared up again. He didn't _want_ to die. And logically speaking, what good would his death do? Make him a martyr? For who? He was the emperor's son. His views reflected the empire's, right? And if he died, who would lead the charge for right then?

Not to mention, he carried the last bit of Altean blood in the universe, as far as he knew. As selfish as it sounded, he didn't want Altea to die with him. He didn't want to give Zarkon that satisfaction. He didn't want to die without some answers as to who he truly was.

Lotor blinked up at the Black Lion, her shield now curving away just in front of his nose. He dared to reach a hand out to touch it and found it thrumming with energy. It truly was a technological wonder, but right now, it felt like a judge against his conscience. He gave into exasperation and leaned his forehead against it, his eyes falling closed.

They were all excuses.

Regardless of whether he died in the ensuing fight, he had to at least _try_ to save the others' lives. Otherwise, he'd just be trading theirs for his. A million, billions, for one. The thought itself was unbearable.

His methods of mining quintessence were practical. They were a start, a temporary solution, but only delayed the inevitable wrath of the empire. If he truly wanted to make a difference in the universe and strive for his own path, he had to start with himself. No more fear.

My_ victory, _my_ death_.

The thrumming underneath his hand felt louder when Lotor opened his eyes again, but perhaps it was the bravery coursing through his veins. He tilted his head up with a small smile and gave the shield beneath his fingers a pat.

"Thanks for listening," he whispered despite himself.

Lotor turned on his heel and headed back for his chambers, intent on finally getting some rest, and not quite catching the way the Black Lion's eyes shimmered while the doors closed behind him.


	3. A Leap Into Space

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: planetary-level genocide

Lotor did not go to his meetings for the lower pylons that morning.

Instead, he woke up, brimming with excited courage, and found himself in the middle of the throne room a half-varga later, squaring off in the argument of the century. If this had been even the day before, he would've bowed at the knee at the sight of Zarkon shooting daggers at him with his glare, with his secret weapon of a witch flanking him.

But today was different. Today, he was standing up to fate.

It had started off with a formal request to _not_ leave a fleet of sentries behind on Atropa, which was denied, as expected. But instead of leaving as he usually did right after, Lotor went straight for the empire's jugular.

"We can't just go around enslaving our citizens, not anymore!"

Zarkon had lost all sense of royal decorum a few doboshes ago, and was towering in front of his throne, temper on full display. "You _will_ treat the creatures of this pitiful planet as your subjects," he bellowed.

Lotor bristled at the insult. "No! We should treat them as our equals. We made a deal with the Aconites and it's up to us to honor it."

"Do it, or I will destroy your beloved planet."

Lotor's eyes grew wide with trepidation. He'd been ready for threats this morning, but he hadn't expected _that_ one. And with the ion cannon having been completed a few quintants prior, it was a legitimate one. Suddenly, he found himself playing with a live wire. One that, unfortunately, he had to cut.

He threw his arms out in another plea. "Can't you see it though? It's more beneficial this way. Why are you _so afraid_ of peace?" His heart beat in double-time. To essentially call out the emperor like that, to his face no less, was an execution waiting to happen. But he was too fired up to care at this point. Too desperate to have his voice be heard.

Yet instead of another shout, Zarkon scoffed. "I knew you were always weak."

Deep down, Lotor knew Zarkon was just trying to turn the tables on him, to maintain the status quo of the emperor's ways always being right. But his derisive tone felt more personal than that, and Lotor found himself balling his hands up into shaking fists. It'd been the one card he'd kept in his back pocket all his life, the one he'd had to discover on his own throughout centuries of searching the universe for clues because his own father refused to give him any information, and now he knew why.

In a flaring, growling outburst, Lotor played his card. "Why? Because I'm half-Altean?!"

In the silence that followed, Zarkon was absolutely fuming, which Lotor took as all the confirmation he needed that he was _never_ supposed to learn of his mother's heritage. Why he'd never even been _considered_ to be the paladin of the Red Lion, even though he was the crown prince, or why he'd never learned of the lions' origins, of how they were created by King Alfor (a fact he had to learn on his own).

Zarkon despised Altea, and with it, his own son.

Lotor had reached the final straw. He was done hiding who he was, and he was done playing the empire's game. Whatever happened next, he had his sword on his hip and a fire burning in his veins to get him through it.

"I'm not going to be a monster like you, _Father_," he spat, puffing out his chest with conviction. "I'm going to preserve life and stop what you're doing."

_Life._

As soon as Lotor finished his declaration, a mighty, definitive roar rumbled within his mind and every fiber of his soul came alive with a strange new energy, and suddenly, everything clicked into place.

_The Black Lion!_

It was the Black Lion who had pulled him out of his slumber the night before, and who was calling to him now. He could feel it—she...she _trusted_ him. She had heard him, heard _everything_, and with an electric tug, she was pulling him to her, _accepting_ him as...her paladin.

If he had been alone, he would've been knocked over by a sense of awe and honor. Here he was, the son of a ruthless emperor (and former Black Paladin no less), always led to believe that he was unworthy of such a title, even for the Red Lion. But now the Black Lion was putting her faith in him, in his new direction, and he had to see it through.

Despite the split-second of surprise he allowed to flash in his eyes at all this, Lotor forced himself to maintain his air of seething. He had to get to the Black Lion, and fast, but seeing as how it seemed he was the only one to hear the roar, he couldn't just bolt out of there, not without tipping Zarkon and Haggar off. He had to protect the lion now, and he had to see this fight through.

Zarkon's response, perhaps for better or for worse, was quick and to the point. With Lotor's cards out on the table, he laid his. "Destroy him and the planet," he commanded of Haggar off to his side, his voice unfeeling and resolute.

If he had the chance, Lotor would've sneered in contempt of his father. Instead, however, the command sunk in and all hell broke loose.

Haggar raised her hand to zap him with her sorcery, but he dodged her attack with a somersault and _ran_.

Quicker successive bolts of energy followed, but he managed to make it out of the throne room in one piece, his sword having been drawn in the process. Every second now was precious. He had to make it to the Black Lion's hangar and stop the destruction of Atropa.

Fortunately, the guards and sentries milling about the halls were going about their day as normal and didn't suspect anything as Lotor blazed past them, only regarding the prince with looks of confusion. Until Zarkon's voice rang out sharp over the _Zenquix_'s announcement system.

"Guards! This is a direct order to kill Prince Lotor on sight! I repeat, kill on sight! He is a traitor of the empire and must be destroyed."

That got people moving.

Yet they were no match for Lotor, as he deflected and knocked down each guard that dared to stop him, his sword slicing through the air as he freely used the walls as leverage to twist past his enemies. The ship was on high alert, but so was he.

As he got closer to the hanger, it seemed there was a new commotion amongst the guards and scientists within, and with another hit of realization, he figured that the Black Lion must have also physically roared when he heard her inside his mind, which they hadn't been able to hear from the throne room. By now Zarkon must've received word about the lion's roar, but no one knew why she was suddenly coming to life after two millennia of silence.

Except for Lotor.

His presence in the hangar, however, didn't keep the secret for long.

Lotor smirked to himself when he saw the Black Lion, knowing he was her paladin now, as he ran in and struck blow after blow to any who stood in his way. Blasters were going off all around him, trying to ward him off from taking another step, and at that point he realized that the lion's shield was still up. Good. At least they couldn't snoop around her or try to secure her for Zarkon.

The energy in Lotor's soul flickered higher the closer he got to the Black Lion, as their minds melded into one. As he reached her, her jaw lowered and her shield parted just enough for him to slip in and run into her waiting mouth. The sheer thrill of getting to this point, of having _actually_ become a paladin, passed quickly out of necessity, and he let her guide him into the cockpit.

Sleek controls and backlit navigation screens greeted him as he clamored into the pilot's chair. This was Altean tech, alright, and to see it in the flesh, still working after so long, filled him with pride. Now it was time to use it.

Over the years, Lotor had become a successful pilot with normal Galra ships, yet he'd only ever caught snippets of paladin lessons between Zarkon and Sendak, before being inevitably noticed and sent away. It stood to reason, then, that he was at something of a loss as to how some of these controls worked, and how to fly a _lion_.

But as he glanced around at the various screens, and that gnawing sense of time running out grew, that connection in his mind spoke up again with a few prodding purrs.

_Trust in me. Let me guide you._

Lotor took the advice in with a deep breath, letting the storm outside the shield fade away as his eyes fluttered closed.

Nothingness. A pool of darkness that would ripple at the faintest touch. And then, a glow. A tiny purple ball of light that pierced his core and traveled out through his limbs, into his heart, his mind, his soul. His quintessence answered it with a tingle of nerves and a cry from the stars. The power of newborn galaxies was his for the taking, and the Black Lion would be there to channel it for him.

Two sets of eyes lit up as one, and Lotor found the panels before him much clearer now, though he still let the lion's spirit guide him. If their initial connection had awoken his soul, then the bond forming now was like awakening that of the universe and becoming one with it. It was time to use that power.

"Ready, Beautiful?" Lotor asked, gripping the controls with a grin. An eager purr answered him, and he exclaimed, "Then let's go!"

He thrust the controls forward and the Black Lion roared to life, her shield dropping fully for the first time since Zarkon's resurrection. The sound echoed throughout the cockpit, earning a smirk from him, and he directed her to blast a hole in the side of the hangar. The resulting hull breach had guards and scientists alike trying to grab onto anything secure, but with a leap into space, Lotor didn't care.

He was out of the _Zenquix_. Out of the empire.

The sigh of relief that escaped him was inevitable, but premature.

It seemed activities aboard the Galra headquarters had moved along during his escape, and that Zarkon had already gotten word of his connection with the Black Lion. A swarm of Galra fighters, however few the new ship had, were scrambling after his trail. But even worse was that off to his side, he could see the _Zenquix_'s ion cannon powering up, just ticks away from destroying the planet below them as they backed out of orbit.

Lotor's heart caught in his throat and his eyes grew wide in horror.

_Atropa. _No_, they- he couldn't let them-_

A vicious growl tore from his throat, and he immediately banked right towards the ion cannon, intent on destroying it with whatever the Black Lion could give him. But as Galra fighters and even a few cruisers continuously got in his way, forcing him to pick them off one by one with a blast here, a bite there, the weapon's full potential was unleashed, and Atropa began to break apart under fire.

Lotor didn't think twice as he made his next moves. He let the Black Lion's own mouth cannon blast anything in his path to bits as he maneuvered her towards the left side of the planet, where the _Zenquix_'s attack hadn't yet reached thankfully. He may not have been able to save the whole of Atropa now, but there was someone he _could_ save.

Fighters shaken off his tail for now, he reached the town of Ulo within a few long doboshes and landed right outside his and Ven'tar's house. The ground was already quaking beneath his feet as he stepped off the Black Lion's ramp.

"Ven'tar!" he shouted as he burst in through the front door and moved deeper inside. "We have to leave now!"

A cough-and-stumble later, and he found his best friend in the archway to the kitchen. He caught their hand for balance and pulled them close so they could hear him over the growing thunder coming from below.

"Are you alright?" he asked, getting a hasty nod in return. "No time for questions. We need to get out of here! Where's Kova?"

"In your room, I think," Ven'tar rasped out, visibly frightened and confused. The shaking was threatening to tear the house apart any tick.

"I'll go get him then. Grab anything you can carry and get yourself out of here. I'll meet you by the Black Lion outside." When their eyes widened at mention of the lion, he emphasized another, "Go!"

Lotor urged them towards the door and saw them grab a robe before turning towards his bedroom. At first glance, he didn't see Kova anywhere, but another strong rumble brought a frantic meow and a flash of glowing yellow under his bed to light.

"Kova! C'mon, boy. We gotta go," he beckoned in as soothing a voice as the situation would grant him. He reached under his bed, only to have his cat latch onto it with a set of sharp claws. "Ow!" he yelped, pulling his hand back. At the very least, Kova had held on and was now hugging his arm for dear life. If said life wasn't in imminent peril, he would've laughed.

Once he had a proper grip on the cat, he spared the quickest of glances around his room. This had been the first place he could ever truly call home, and now, he was about to see it fall at Zarkon's hand. He swallowed down the pit of guilt building in his stomach and switched his focus onto grabbing his bag of research, the one that had accompanied him on all his adventures throughout space as he searched for answers to himself. If _anything_ would help him in his new life, it would be in that bag.

He slung the bag's strap over his shoulder and left the room for the front door, managing to grab Ven'tar's favorite blanket with his free hand on the way out, seeing how they hadn't had a chance to go back this way in the house.

Dust was shaking down around him and the ground felt like a never-ending wave by the time he stepped foot back outside. He found Ven'tar waiting by the Black Lion, various items in their grasp and their own bag over their shoulder, and he nodded to Black to let them both in. They made it into the cockpit, and Lotor passed off Kova to Ven'tar before settling into his seat.

"Hang on, you two," he warned, and they were off.

By the time they reached orbit, Atropa was crumbling into shambles and burning up into fits of lava that soared above the atmosphere, with only the far side of the planet just now showing cracks in its facade.

Ven'tar gasped with a hand to their mouth, their antennae drooping in fear and shock, as they watched their planet die. Lotor wanted to be there for his friend, to explain _why_ their life was being turned on its head on an otherwise-normal day, but the renewed group of fighters waiting for his return from the planet's surface directed his attention elsewhere.

He drew the fighters away from Atropa, away from the _Zenquix_, and with some slick piloting, he obliterated them all.

Their only saving grace now was that the _Zenquix_ itself couldn't travel very fast, as it was still incomplete, and without a full fleet, still undermanned. This spurred Lotor on to get them going as far away from Zarkon as possible, as fast as possible.

Once he was sure no one was trailing Black and wouldn't be for the foreseeable future, he allowed himself to let out a shuddery breath from the day's events so far.

He had successfully turned his back on the empire, and even became a paladin, of all things, but Atropa, the Aconites, had fallen victim to the empire. And now like himself, Ven'tar was the last of their people.

As Black pressed forward, Lotor turned in his seat to see a hot orange ball of fire floating where a beautiful, thriving planet of an innovative, brilliant race dedicated to peace and the environment once stood. He knew it was Zarkon's fault—_he'd_ been the one to give the order—but guilt and doubt crept into his mind nevertheless. He had stood up to his father for what was right, but _still_ others had died for a victory he had yet to earn.

A gentle rumble deep in his mind tore Lotor out of the darkness he'd thought himself into, reminding him that he wasn't alone in this fight anymore and that it wasn't over, and he smiled in kind, if only for a moment. He still had a heartbroken friend standing over his shoulder.

Ensured that the Black Lion was still racing through the stars, he got up and took Kova from Ven'tar's arms to place him on the floor, then pulled them into an embrace. Ven'tar returned the hug, resting their head against his shoulder, before finally crumbling into tears in his hold.

Lotor squeezed back with as much strength as he could and, in the silence that ensued, whispered the only thing he could think to say.

"I'm sorry."


	4. Strength in the Shadows

_Strategy, foresight, a keen eye for the unexpected._

These were all things Lotor prided himself on in normal circumstances. But the present situation was far, far from normal circumstances, and the further they traveled through space, the more wound-up he became.

Ven'tar, who had been understandably reserved after Lotor had explained the events of that morning to them, tried to rouse him out of his thoughts from where they sat huddled behind the pilot's seat. "Lotor."

No answer. Only the imperceptible increase of speed in the bouncing of his leg.

"Lotor!"

"_What?!_" he yelped, jumping in his seat.

The Black Lion jerked to the side at his reaction before continuing on, rustling her passengers to alertness and bringing Ven'tar to their feet as the quiet atmosphere of the cockpit shattered. A gentle hand on Lotor's shoulder made him flinch again, but as its gentle touch reassured him that it was his friend, he settled down with an exhale.

"Sorry," Ven'tar said sheepishly.

He shook his head. "No, no need. I think everything is finally sinking in for me, is all." He waited a beat before asking, "Do you need anything?"

They gave a half-shrug and nodded towards their path ahead. "Was just thinking that perhaps we should figure out where we're going? Are you even heading anywhere?"

_Away_. That was the only destination he had in mind currently––away from Zarkon, the empire, the _destruction_, all of it. Only that wasn't practical, he realized as he sat up straighter. They needed to regroup, figure out, besides _everything_, what was next.

They needed food. Supplies. A plan.

Lotor leaned over the star charts on the panel to his right, swiping his finger across the surface. Black had certainly gotten them away, but now they were in an area of space that he had only been through a few times before. It was one of the more peaceful sections of the empire, for what that was worth, mostly civilian and a hub for intergalactic trading.

"There's a trading outpost on a moon not too far off, if I recall correctly," he shared. "I'm sure my father has already put a bounty on my head, but we could test our luck that we're still ahead of the news and at least get some supplies?"

At Ven'tar's agreement, he set a course for the nearest star system, reveling in the small comfort that Kova brought by jumping into his lap and purring. Once Black changed headings, he let his fingers massage the ears of his furry companion. It seemed Kova was determined to retain his title of favorite feline now that there was a newcomer in their lives.

Digitali was a small moon, but still large enough for Lotor to land the Black Lion undetected out on the fringes of the main town. It was one thing for there to be Zarkon's impending bounty on his head, but Black may as well have carried a flag with his face on it. There was just no way of hiding her and, by extension, himself.

As the two prepared to travel by foot into the marketplace, a handful of coins from one of their bags at the ready, Ven'tar suddenly stopped and stared Lotor down with a puzzled look. "Shouldn't it just be me that goes?" they asked.

Lotor was quick to retort as he pulled up the hood on his cloak. "In a place like this? No way." He didn't doubt that Ven'tar could take care of themselves, but the Aconites were a peaceful people that didn't put a lot of emphasis on self-defense, which was crucial at smaller outposts like this one. Their reaction time might not be up to snuff here. "I'll go, if it'll just be one of us," he insisted.

Ven'tar smiled a rare mischievous smile, the one that knew how to push their friend's buttons. "Alright, but if you end up blowing your cover and we lose all that space we just traveled, don't say it was my fault!"

With a conceding grumble after a tick of deliberation, Lotor handed over the coins shoved into his cloak, which Ven'tar pocketed with a pleased grin. Despite the minor agitation, he couldn't deny that it felt good to see them smiling, if only for a moment.

"Be careful, okay?" he bade. He was certain that no one back on the _Zenquix_ knew he'd gone down to retrieve his friend, as he had destroyed any trailing ships, but he couldn't be too sure that a message about his whereabouts hadn't made its way back to headquarters.

"I will. I promise." Ven'tar pulled up the collar on their robe and stepped into the archway of the door before looking back. "Besides, you're the one who needs to figure out where we're heading next, and _someone_ has to watch the furry ones." They paused before rephrasing, patting the metal wall to the side in a hesitant, yet friendly way. "Well, furry _one_, and metallic one."

Lotor smirked at the small rumble Black transmitted to his mind in response, before nodding towards the exit. "Go. Hurry back."

With a fluttering wave, Ven'tar made for the market, leaving Lotor to his own devices once he saw them fade from view out the external view screens.

Suddenly the bag of research laying off to the side of his chair seemed imposing. It contained so many secrets, yet a very finite amount about Voltron. He knew Alfor had created the lions back during peaceful times, and he had scattered the lions after the war began to hide them from Zarkon.

_Well, three of them, anyway_, Lotor remembered with a grimace. Sendak still had the Red Lion, which meant that if he ever wanted to form Voltron, he would have to infiltrate the empire once again. It wasn't a prospect he was looking forward to.

At least he had Black, however, the head and heart of Voltron. Would she have the answer as to where he was supposed to go?

Lotor looked expectantly towards the center console, as if it carried all the answers he yearned for. Before today, it had remained untouched since Zarkon's premature funeral. A sudden wave of awe struck him––Black was a relic brought out of time, right at his disposal. Surely, it couldn't be _that_ easy...

Sliding into the pilot's chair once more, his bag of research forgotten for now, he tapped his way through screen after screen of information, looking for maps, star charts, battle logs, _anything_ useful.

It was when he stumbled across a map of Altea that his breath hitched, and as his eyes fell across the name of Altea's capital city, an image entered his mind.

_Tall, magnificently tall and gleaming white. Orbital transports criss-crossing behind it high in the sky, and everything wafting of the future. A royal, glorious future, and here he was looking up at it with eager curiosity, as if the size wasn't intimidating to him. A ship? No, more than that, it had to be. A castle, with a rumbling coming from within._

Just as quickly, Lotor found himself staring at the console again, panting slightly. That...that had been all too realistic. He fell back in his chair and let his eyes scan across Black's screens.

"Was that your doing?" he asked, suspiciously. To have his senses just taken away and replaced like that, it was both jarring and yet thrilling.

An agreeable rumble, much like the one in the vision, answered him.

Lotor's eyes widened. This cat was getting more and more impressive than he could have ever imagined. Impressive, and helpful, it seemed.

"Was that castle...your home? Alfor's home?" After a moment of connecting the dots, he leaned forward, suddenly more invested at a new thought. "Was that _Altea_?"

Another rumble, only much more hesitant and morose.

A color of different emotions washed through him. That was...that had been Altea, as if he had just been there himself. He'd seen his _home_, and it was beautiful. More beautiful and welcoming and so..._right_ than he could have ever imagined.

Silence covered him, and his eyes clenched shut, conjuring up the image of home once more. It felt like a faded memory now, one that had tears welling up beneath his eyelids. His fingers gripped helplessly at the armor running along his thighs as he slumped back once more.

He belonged there, in that vision, he knew it. It was a feeling so intrinsic, so buried in his blood, and yet this had been the first time he ever felt it.

But it was something he could never have for real, his father had made sure of that. Altea was gone, and with it, that vision.

_No._

Eyes snapped open, glancing around for the disturbance before Lotor remembered Black's presence in his mind, temporarily pushed out by his anger.

He sneered. "No?" He knew Black obviously hadn't been there for Altea's demise, but surely, she had _felt_ it, if she was as cognizant of the universe as she seemed to be. If nothing else, Zarkon's commands, gloating, and clear despise for everything Altean must have given the fact away.

_Not gone._

He quirked an unamused eyebrow. "What do you mean? Of course it's...gone."

Another sudden image overtook his mind, this time one of the castle, surging past him through space, silent in the vacuum but that _feeling_ of massive engineering thrumming in his ears. And behind it...the sickeningly familiar sight of a molten ball of planetary debris.

"_Stop!_" Lotor swung his arms out as if to clear away the vision, and he blinked back into reality, this time fuming. He didn't want to see that ever again. Not for _any_ planet, but especially not Altea. He slumped back once again, trying to regain focus of the bigger picture. The much, _much_ bigger picture. "So this castle still exists?"

An affirming purr, accompanied by Kova slinking past his legs to comfort him. He let out a soft grunt at that.

"How do you know?"

_Red Lion._

Lotor couldn't stop the snicker that escaped him. It figured these lions would've been talking behind their backs. But he wasn't complaining. "Do you know where it is now?" he hoped.

_No._

_Figures._ Shoulders slouching at the response, he regrouped.

They had the Black Lion and, for whatever it was worth, his bag of research. Now they also had knowledge of this castle and its continued existence. It definitely seemed like the place to head for, especially since they had no other leads, but the most crucial piece of information eluded them––where to find it within the vast universe.

_BANG!_

A jolt roused Lotor from his thoughts, and he scrambled to his feet, summoning his sword from his hip.

"What the quiznak?!" he shouted, looking to see that Kova was still safe, before turning to Black's screens. He couldn't see anything in the external views, so he turned on his heel and bounded out the door, a mumbled "stay" leaving his lips as an afterthought to Kova.

Expecting a firefight, Lotor braced in self-defense, sword at the ready, as he waited for Black's mouth to open and let him out. There had been no one around when they'd landed, and yet that jolt had felt very deliberate, like an explosion near Black's feet.

Well, he certainly wasn't going to stand for _that_.

Yet to his surprise, he didn't see anyone when Digitali's sharp boulders and shielding hills came into view. It was only when he stepped onto the ground that a hidden voice, gruff in nature, spoke out.

"Freeze!"

Lotor's eyes narrowed in defiance, searching for the source. Bandits? This far out? "Show yourselves!" he ordered.

"Yeah, right." Another voice, this one lighter and almost playful, yet dangerously so. "You would _love_ that, wouldn't you?"

A moment of deliberation crossed Lotor's mind. It was likely that, if Zarkon had sent out a bounty on his head, these bandits, or whoever they were, would be the last to know, if they knew who he was at all. As much as the idea disgusted him, he could play the "prince of the empire" card and force them to surrender. But no, he shook his mind clear. He was beyond that now. He only wanted to protect what was his.

The bandits, however, had other ideas, and knew more than he had given him credit for.

"He's a spoiled prince, Ez," the first one scoffed. "What else would you expect?"

Bristling at the accusation, Lotor willed himself to be agreeable. "I'm not who you think I am. Not anymore."

"_Please_. You come here, straight to our hideout––"

"Don't tell him that!"

"Whoops, right."

Lotor rolled his eyes at the blunder, before cutting in. "I didn't know this was your hideout." A sudden thrill of fear raced down his spine as he realized that they might've seen Ven'tar as they left for the market. Though knowing he had personally seen them disappear safely from view provided a shred of comfort, and a bolster to his defense. "Please, my friend went into town for supplies, that is all."

"Supplies, huh?" the lighter voice toyed around on her voice.

_Quiznak_. He'd been standing up to the empire all day, and _this_ is what threw him off his game. Settling further back into his stance, he prepared himself for whatever was about to come and shot back, "Not for you."

The gruff voice chuckled. "Think again."

With only warning shot coming from somewhere ahead to his right, which he dodged just in time, Lotor suddenly found himself in the sights of two half-Galra bandits. One came from the left, tall and built, her ears flaring up in anger as she charged towards him with a yell, no doubt the owner of the first voice. The second, "Ez," came from the direction of the warning shot, not running but _backflipping_ high into view. In nearly all regards, he was outmatched. But that had never stopped him before, and it certainly wasn't going to now.

With a few test slices as he ran forward amid more laser fire, Lotor met the large bandit first, blocking her gun with his blade as she tried to hit him with it after his successful dodges. When he sensed the other bandit sneaking up around behind him, he dropped his resistance and let the first bandit's momentum carry her face-first tumbling towards the ground, then spun about and deflected the shot that had been heading straight for the back of his head.

Their brawl continued for several doboshes, and everyone managed to get their share of hits in, with the large bandit landing a particularly painful kick to Lotor's lower back once weapons had been thrown out of reach and things had devolved into hand-to-hand combat.

The kick sent him sprawling into the moon's dust, and he flipped over, albeit slowly, clearly winded. He looked up at the two women approaching him with sneers on their faces, until a shadow loomed over all of them and a thunderous roar halted the commotion, the force sending them backwards to the ground.

Lotor peered up to see the underside of the Black Lion's chin right above him, and he smiled gratefully, before smirking at his foes. "Didn't expect that now, did you?" he jeered once the roar died down.

The bandits sat up slowly, rubbing at their heads before staring up wide-eyed at his lion. He took the opportunity to lift himself to his feet and gather his sword, before approaching them.

"Listen, I–" His eyes landed on the clasp he finally noticed the large bandit was using to hold her cape across her collar. He'd seen that logo plenty of times during his conquests as a prince. "You...you're rebels, aren't you?"

The bandit––rebel––followed his gaze down to her clasp, and turned defensively away. "What of it? Gonna turn me in for crimes against your precious empire?"

To their surprise, Lotor tossed his sword to the side, and his shoulders relaxed into an idle, almost vulnerable state.

"I defected from the empire. Just today," he shared, almost solemnly.

Ez scoffed. "Sure you did."

He shook his head to dismiss her comment. "No, I mean it. Word might not have reached here yet, but I'm on the run now. I don't believe in what my father is doing, and I want to help make things right. I want to help _you_."

At the rebels' shared glance, a sliver of consideration traveling between them, Lotor found himself latching onto it, and he broke into story about the events of his day. How, if he hadn't truly left the empire, there would've been no giant lion willing them into submission with just her towering presence right now. How, if it truly took going this far, he would have his friend willingly hand over their supplies to their cause when they returned from town, and they would leave them be at their hideout.

There was stillness when he finished, until the smaller rebel spoke up. "I believe you."

"Ezor!"

"What?" Ezor gestured to him. "I want his supplies, and I've heard about this Voltron before. Someone once said that Zarkon would need all these lions to make it work."

The larger rebel gaped in betrayal, before looking away with a grumble, and finally, a sigh. "I've heard that, too..." she admitted.

Something lit up proudly in Lotor's chest, and he reached forward with both hands to pull both of them up from the ground at the same time. As they dusted themselves off, he said, "Ezor, was it? I promise, those supplies are as good as yours once my friend gets back."

"We appreciate it," Ezor grasped his offered arm in understanding, before turning to sling an arm over her partner's shoulder. "Don't we, love?"

"I suppose," the larger one agreed with a roll of her eyes, blushing ever so slightly. She held out her own arm. "I'm Zethrid, by the way."

He took her arm as well. "Lotor, in case you've been using other names," he joked.

"What, you mean like Lot– _ow! _Hey!" A swift flick on the ear from Ezor stopped Zethrid mid-confession.

Lotor chuckled in amusement as the atmosphere loosened up, until an idea struck him. He would need to explain things to Ven'tar once they returned, but the more he thought about it, the quicker he realized how beneficial it would be for everyone. Plus, if they did plan on eventually bringing Voltron together, it would be necessary.

"I actually have a proposal for you both. My friend and I keep the supplies," he began, raising his hands up to placate the sudden growl emanating from Zethrid. "–We keep the supplies, but you two join us on our journey. What's ours will be yours, and I'm sure between our two respective camps, we can combine our knowledge about the empire and the rebellion to further aid our cause." He stared at them, a pleading, yet controlled hope alight in his eyes.

With another long glance of silent communication between them, it was Zethrid who surprised him with a response. "Yeah, okay. Why not?" She sounded unimpressed, but smiled all the same. "Sounds more fun than trying to steal from the rare visitor we get this far out."

Ezor was unbridled in her excitement. "I'm in!"

That sense of hope blossomed into relief and eagerness in Lotor's chest. He may have lost his previous way of life, but that didn't mean there weren't still things to gain going forward. Like allies.

As Ezor swung side to side with her arm now fully around her partner, Zethrid eyed the lion above them, wondering, "So how much firepower does this baby have?"

Lotor let out a full laugh then. This was an interesting gain for sure.

As time dwindled forward, the three of them set about into transporting supplies from the girls' hideout to the Black Lion, stockpiling food rations, intelligence files, and a small but impressive armory of weapons into the cargo bay.

When Ven'tar eventually returned, a bag of food hanging across their shoulder, they stopped in shock at the sight of Lotor and an intimidating, muscular woman watching a smaller woman perform flips at the base of Black's feet, her orange braid flicking behind her through the air.

Lotor caught sight of his friend returning, and waved them over, a guilty, yet bubbling grin written across his face. He pulled Ven'tar into a side hug, and turned to gesture towards the two newcomers, who gave them a wave of good will.

"Ven'tar, I'd like for you to meet our new passengers, Zethrid and Ezor," he introduced with a slight laugh. "The fluffy one, and the..._acrobatic_ one."


	5. Gone Is the Beginning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: brief description of a crash site and related injuries + implied animal death

It was like trying to find a Balmera in a newborn galaxy, but on a much more massive scale.

To be asked to find a single castle-ship that had nearly two thousand deca-phoebs as a head start to hide somewhere, _anywhere_, in the entire universe was a tall order.

To do so with absolutely no leads was infuriating.

Lotor must've pored over his bag of research at least a dozen times by now as he, Ven'tar, Zethrid, Ezor, and Kova zipped past star systems and celestial phenomena in the Black Lion. Perhaps it would've been more practical to have stayed in one place until they had a direction, but with news of his betrayal spreading throughout the empire at light-speed, it served them well to keep moving and stay a step ahead.

Despite their close quarters, it seemed that Zethrid and Ezor were quite a good fit for their cause. They knew which planets and moons were particularly rebel-friendly, which allowed them to gather supplies with relative peace of mind and even let Lotor stretch his legs outside his lion every so often. It also let them keep a fairly-accurate eye on Zarkon and the _Zenquix_'s whereabouts, while also sending out covert messages that the emperor's son wanted to help the rebellion and make things right in the empire.

But for the life of him, Lotor couldn't find anything as to where the castle might be.

On one particular stretch of their journey, he once again found himself slumped across Black's pilot chair, looking through his research, while Kova slept at his feet and the others in the cargo bay. He managed to at least eliminate a good chunk of it as useless, but there was still a handful of material that left him in limbo. If only he knew more of the Altean language, he might've been able to decipher it.

One thing he knew for certain though was that he was _exhausted_. The four of them were keeping track of time, but with all space and no star to orbit usually, his days had seemingly turned into one endless night.

But he kept studying the scroll currently in his grasp, as if staring at it would make the answer he sought appear. White strands of hair fell into his vision as he ran a hand across his head, and he sighed. He should have been sleeping; Black could take control on auto-pilot at any time.

Lotor wanted so desperately to understand the text in front of him, yet he didn't even realize that he had begun to mutter the ancient scrawl. He could read it, but he had no idea what the words _meant_.

"_Sloven-de-hoe eth...aut patrulian..._"

Just as his chin was about to nod against his chest, Black's energy roared to life in his head, and he jolted awake to find his lion racing through a blurred background of star trails and dark matter at speeds he was certain were defying all the laws of physics.

Lotor immediately pulled back on his controls but they were stuck. Stubbornly so. "Black, listen to me," he commanded in a hushed cry. "The others are sleeping. Stop this at once!"

There was no given explanation for Black's behavior, save for the cryptic repetition of one word in his mind.

_Patrulian._

Despite his better judgment, he reached down to grab the scroll he'd thrown aside, trying to find the place where he had nodded off. _Patrulian._ There it was, yet that only gave him more questions than answers. He had no idea what it meant, or why Black had taken sudden action at the word.

Lotor wasn't sure if he could say that time had passed at all by the time they landed on an average-sized planet dominated by rainforests and scattered towns. Ven'tar was awake as well now, and they tried their best to perform a quick scan for surface life, but Black was faster in landing in the center of one of the towns. From what they could gather, however, the planet was completely devoid of people. The most remarkable feature out the view screen on the way down was a monumental mountain that seemed to have once sported a waterfall, but now ran dry.

It felt...abandoned. Abandoned by its people, and abandoned by time.

The moment Black's claws touched the surface, Kova was on all fours, back arched and ears pinned back as he hissed at the doors to the cargo bay and ran circles around Lotor and Ven'tar's legs.

"Kova, cut it out!" Ven'tar ordered, trying to pin him down.

Lotor rolled his eyes. First, the Black Lion, and now Kova. His cats were particularly feisty today, but at least the former seemed to have acted on purpose, even if that purpose was unclear. They needed to investigate.

Side-stepping the other two in the cockpit, he strolled into the cargo bay and threw a spare blanket over at Ezor and Zethrid, who were cuddled up against each other in a corner already under a blanket, having slept through the entire joyride through the stars.

Ezor stirred first, raising her head from Zethrid's chest. "Whazza-?"

"Get up, you two. The Black Lion may have led us to something," he instructed.

As Ezor continuously poked Zethrid until she woke up, Lotor prepared himself for the venture outside, tucking the scroll safely into the inner pocket of his cloak. He felt as lost as ever, having been brought here for no apparent reason, yet was eager to at least have _something_ to look into.

Yet the moment Black's mouth open and he set foot outside, Kova raced past his legs and immediately headed in the direction of the forest.

Lotor swore under his breath before yelling, "Kova, wait!" He shouted for the others to hurry up and follow him, then ran in the direction of his pet. "Get back here!"

There was something familiar about the planet as he ran through the town, like it carried the presence of a legend that was supposed to be known, but not mentioned. Stone buildings and open-air windows seemed to rain unprovoked judgment down on him, as if it was a crime that he didn't know what they knew. What they had seen.

He kept sprinting forward, willing himself to shake the feeling off. As he crossed the edge of the jungle, he could hear the others starting to catch up behind him.

Thankfully, he found Kova, who had finally stopped running in a small clearing. What he didn't expect, however, was to find him hissing, no, _screeching_, in frozen alarm at a horrific scene.

A Galra fighter ship laid smashed into a couple of trees, its nose completely destroyed and one of its wings chipped off from running into the ground. Scorch marks dotting along the craft left evidence of a one-sided firefight, and the front windshield appeared to be shattered. The ground and foliage tracing back from the wreck were marred, indicating a rough entry from the atmosphere.

Kova continued to hiss at the scene, almost defensively, and while Ven'tar, Ezor, and Zethrid instinctively covered their ears as they caught up, Lotor paid the cat no mind. Instead he drew his sword, suspicion flaring in his blood.

He began to take calculated steps towards the wreckage, eyes scanning for bombs, cameras, trackers––_anything_ that might indicate a trap. But in a flash, Kova ceased his noise and scurried up onto the wing and straight into the cockpit, and from there, Lotor dropped all pretenses of stealth.

"Kova!" he shouted, reaching an arm out as he clamored up the fighter along the same path.

The rest of the team joined him, and together they pried the hatch open, with Lotor and Zethrid keeping their weapons at the ready.

But it wasn't a Galra soldier, or even a sentry that they found.

Rather, it was a lizard-like woman, seemingly unconscious, even without any eyes. She wore a Galra prison uniform, Lotor noted bitterly, which was torn along her left arm, revealing a rather significant laser gun-inflicted wound. And yet there was Kova, wriggled under her arm and purring.

Lotor scowled despite himself and turned to Ven'tar, his accusation thinly veiled by his cat's betrayal. "I thought you said there was no life on the surface?"

Ven'tar held their hands up in defense. "Hey, from what I was able to scan, there wasn't. But _someone's_ lion was in a rush."

He nearly growled in retaliation, but then popped up and looked over his shoulder towards town. _His lion_. She'd been left unguarded. They could still take her with her shield up. "Oh, I swear, if they think they can get Black back this easily..."

"Black's fine," Ven'tar placated with a hand on his shoulder, guiding him to look at the victim of the crash again. "She's clearly not _with_ the empire." Sometimes it scared him how well his best friend could read him, but right now, Lotor was annoyed and shrugged their hand off of him.

Ezor knelt down on the other side of the cockpit. "I wonder if she's still alive," she asked, reaching out to check for a pulse.

Yet just as her hand was about to touch her neck, the victim's own hand lashed out and grabbed at the back of her neck, causing her to stiffen up. Everyone else jumped forward to try to intervene, but Kova stood up and let out an ear-splitting shriek, making a distinct point of turning to glare each of them down. They backed off, if only slightly, as Ezor's eyes began to glow an eerie blue-white before turning to normal, and her body relaxed.

"Please, don't hurt me," Ezor pleaded, yet the words didn't seem to belong to her. The victim rolled her head upright, her presence growing strong. "I come from the planet of Razild. My people are born blind and mute, but talk to each other telepathically. This is the only way I can communicate with you."

From her spot to the side, Zethrid crossed her arms and grumbled to herself, "Yeah, well, you didn't have to use _my_ girlfriend."

Ezor continued, seemingly unfazed by the comment. "The Galra invaded Razild a few phoebs ago and have been taking groups of us in for experimentation."

Lotor's breath hitched in his throat. _The Druids_. It must have been them. He still didn't know what planet he was on, but that uneasy feeling of being in the wrong cosmic neighborhood at the wrong time crawled under his skin.

"They wanted to study and use our telepathy for _something_, I'm not sure what. But they experimented on me, and my companion."  
  
"Companion?" Ven'tar asked.

"Razildans usually bond with animal companions to let us see the world through their eyes," Ezor explained, and the Razildan ran a hand across Kova's fur, prompting him to sit back down on her lap and revel in the affection. "I had a cat of my own, and she helped me get to this fighter and escape, but some soldiers chased us off the planet and shot at us and then...everything just went black." She bowed her head forward in a moment of remembrance, and Kova looked up at her. "I guess your furry friend here was the one to find me? He's adorable."

An old memory flared up in Lotor's mind, of his youth and how everyone had looked down on him as a spoiled prince. They'd been wrong. His father only saw him as an "insolent boy," one who could learn and train as much as he did and yet still fall up short.

But when he claimed ownership of Kova, he put his princely status to good use to enforce it. Kova had shown him unconditional love and camaraderie, and he latched onto that. _This creature pleases me. It will be–_

"–Mine. Kova's mine," Lotor insisted, coming out of the memory and causing everyone to direct their attention towards him. Even Kova––_or is it this newcomer?_––glanced up at him, his glassy eyes confused.

Ezor spoke once more, an impressed, honest tone coming through. "I can tell. His bond for you is strong."

Lotor was taken aback by that and grew silent, earning a side glance from Ven'tar before they changed the subject and asked, "Do you have a name?"

"Razildans do not assign names to each other, but if it serves a purpose for you, then you're welcome to choose one for me."

"Hmm...I'll have to think of one for you then," Ven'tar promised, and suddenly Lotor grew suspicious of their overly-friendly tone. He pulled gently at her arm and motioned for them to go talk privately, and they told the others, "We'll be right back, I guess."

Lotor led the way down the wing of the fighter and off a ways into the forest. Over their shoulders he could hear the remnants of the ensuing conversation.  
  
"You might want to catch your girlfriend. Telepathy can be draining on a new host."

A scuffle for Zethrid to catch Ezor, and then the latter's true voice rang out, "Okay, next time someone _else_ has to do that. Not me!" A beat of consideration, then, "But welcome to the team! I'm Ezor."

Zethrid let out a begrudging grunt of her own name, and added, "How badly are you hurt?"

Lotor grit his teeth in frustration as their voices faded away and turned to his friend, scoffing. "What do you think you're doing? What do _any_ of you think you're doing?"

Ven'tar stood with arms crossed, unperturbed by his reaction. "_We're_ helping those affected by the empire, just like you set out to do."

"I get that, but do you have to just go letting her waltz onto the team like that? We haven't even discussed it!"

"I seem to recall that Ezor and Zethrid weren't discussed all that much either."

"Hey! I made sure you were okay with it when you came back," he retorted.

They raised an eyebrow in silent deliberation, acceding the point to him in doing so. "Is this about the Kova thing?"

Lotor crossed his arms and looked away towards a tangle of vines, stammering, "N-No. It's just that she's a prisoner, who _just_ escaped from the empire."

Ven'tar looked at him as if he'd just given himself the obvious answer he was looking for. "Yeah, and that means she's the one we can _trust_."

"I trust _her_..." he sighed. _Well, to a point._ "It's my father and his witch I don't trust. I know what the empire has tried to do with their experiments before, and the fact that she _doesn't_ know what they did to her...or her cat, is...worrisome. That, and who's to say if they were able to get a tracker on that fighter?"

"Lotor, look at me." They took him by the shoulders, prompting him to look up at them. "Everything's fine, okay? If there was a tracker, I'm sure it was destroyed in the crash. And even if not, it's not like we're taking it with us."

That got a reluctant exhale out of him.

"And as for the empire, whatever they did to her or her cat, we won't let it get us. We'll protect her, and ourselves. But we have to trust each other."

"I know..." he groaned, tilting his head back to the treetop canopies above him.

"Good." Ven'tar gave him a soft smile. "And besides, it's not like they experimented on Kova as well."

_Kova_.

Lotor drew in on himself again. The fact was a small comfort, but Kova had bonded with her so quickly, and had acted in _her_ defense. On one hand, he was proud of him for providing a way for her to see, but...

He shook his head and took a step back. "I'm...gonna go figure out why Black brought us here. Go help her back to the cargo bay and see to her arm."

Without waiting for a response, Lotor turned on his heel and headed back to town. He supposed he would acclimate to this new dynamic, but for now, he just needed a distraction.

_Maybe this is Kova's payback for bonding with the Black Lion._ He snorted at the thought, allowing a small, tired smile to creep across his face.

Back in the midst of those haunting buildings, in front of Black, Lotor closed his eyes and drew in a long, thoughtful breath. There was an energy to this place, the entire planet. Both he and Black could feel it.

"_Patrulian_," he whispered, his gaze trailing up to Black's. "You know what that means, don't you?"

Black rumbled in agreement, the word repeating in Altean in her mind.

"That doesn't help me." Lotor took the scroll out of his inner pocket and studied it again. "_Sloven-de-hoe eth aut patrulian_..."

A sudden brilliant glow of silvery-blue flashed off to the side high in the sky, beyond the edge of town, seeming to originate at the base of the mountain they saw on the way in. It continued in a series of quick silent pulses, sending an eerie shiver down his spine. Black's mind went on high alert, in acknowledgement of an apprehensive familiarity of the light.

"I suppose I know where I'm heading," Lotor deadpanned, returning the scroll to his cloak.

It took the better part of a varga, but he made it through the rainforest and arrived at the base of the mountain just as the planet's sun touched the horizon to signal the beginning of nightfall. Not that it made much of a difference to him––the glow practically blinded him. Shielding his eyes, he tried to look at its source, but it was impossible.

_Perhaps the Altean can help stop it_, he thought to himself.

He began to utter the phrase again, but the flashing stopped after he said the first word. In its wake, an ethereal scene revealed itself. A small shallow cave protruded into the mountain, and within it, a small blue-white glowing crystal hovered on its own accord, rotating slowly. But it was the feature above the cave that made Lotor gasp in awe––an ancient carving of Voltron. Yet no sooner did his gasp end that a series of images played through his mind.

_A fight between Voltron and a monster. Voltron crashing into the side of the mountain, and ducking out of the way of the monster's wrath. A wrestle for dominance, and a sword through the heart. A celebration from the town. An alliance is forged._

_Then a hush of many years. Planetary exodus to hide from war, followed by silence. A hooded figure placing the crystal, then checking over their shoulder and disappearing._

Lotor opened his eyes in realization, his mind working quickly to put two and two together with what he'd learned throughout his life. "This...was the first planet to join the Voltron Alliance," he told to no one in particular.

With the glow of the crystal still bright enough to allow it, he studied the side of the mountain. Cracks sprawled out from an impact crater high above, and the cave before him, he realized belatedly, wasn't a cave at all. It was a dent from Voltron's heel.

This was... He was literally standing in Voltron's footsteps. In history. From a time when there'd been hope for the future of the universe, and the Paladins flew as one. The responsibility to make that happen again bore down on his shoulders, but he embraced the challenge with promise.

The crystal began to spin faster and emit light from both points like a pulsar. With no other visible options, he approached it and carefully grasped it to pull it free from its magnetic hold.

_The hooded figure, standing next to a platform in the center of the bridge of a ship. In front of them, a white-haired bearded Altean handing them the crystal and warning that, "He must not find this. Let us hope that I find it again first." A rumbling strike from outside––the castle!––and then, "Go, quickly! Don't let Coran, or anyone, know you have that."_

By the time the vision ended, Lotor stood in near darkness, the crystal cradled in his hands, glowing faintly. That had been the castle, that had been–

"Alfor?" he wondered aloud.

A sting of both excitement and shame filled him. His father hadn't found the crystal, but he'd ensured that Alfor wouldn't either.

Still, he was holding a piece of Altea in his hands, something Alfor had been one of the last to handle, and the thought made him giddy despite himself. He didn't know what it was for yet, but he had an inkling that the Black Lion would know.

Lotor made it back to the town in record time, and Black greeted him––or was it for the crystal?––with a subdued roar before letting him in. A sense of understanding passed between them––Black definitely knew what the object was; it was just a matter of getting to the cockpit so she could show him.

Yet there was something more pressing to attend to first.

"How's she doing?" Lotor whispered as he came up behind Ven'tar with a hand on their shoulder. Before them, Zethrid and Ezor sat around the Razildan, who was laying on a couple of blankets with a bandage around her arm and Kova perched on her stomach, looking about the room for her. The couple seemed to be taking turns telling stories of their adventure so far.

"She's fine, just needs to rest at this point." Ven'tar surveyed him. "Did you find what you were looking for?"

"Indeed I did." He held out the crystal and nodded towards the cockpit. "I'm not sure what it's for exactly, but I think Black's about to show me." After pocketing it again, he asked, "So, did you come up with a name for her?"

"Yep. Narti."

Lotor couldn't hold back an impressed smirk. "'Unseen' in aconi?"

Ven'tar hummed in confirmation.

"Clever, to say the least." After a playful nudging of shoulders between the two, he knelt down next to Narti and took her right hand in his in solidarity. With a warm grin, he conveyed, "Welcome to the team, Narti."

She nodded gratefully and squeezed his hand, and any remaining tension from earlier dissipated between them.

Leaving the group to return to their conversation, Lotor made his way into the cockpit to find the left panel blinking rapidly. Rushing forward, he asked Black, "What's wrong?"

_Crystal._

A breath of relief escaped him, and he unsheathed the crystal from his cloak, unsure of what to do with it. Yet, as if it had a mind of its own, it floated from his hand to a holographic stand that had risen from the panel, and began to pulse like it had done earlier. To his surprise, a map appeared next to it. A map to–

"The castle!"

No labels appeared on the map, just an outline of the castle pinpointing its location _somewhere_ in the universe, but there it was, without a doubt. They had their lead, and suddenly their mission felt extremely viable.

Unable to contain his excitement, Lotor stuck his head out the door and told the team the good news that their next destination was the one they'd been looking for. He then sat down in his chair and fired Black up.

Yet unbeknownst to him, Kova had snuck into the cockpit when he opened the door, and now jumped up in his lap, settling down and purring at his presence, giving him pause. After a tick of hesitation, he settled his hand behind the cat's ears and began to scratch them affectionately.

"I'm sorry, too, buddy," he whispered, a peace settling over him with the apology. Kova didn't deserve the wrath of his jealousy, and yet here he was, still as loyal as ever.

Black, meanwhile, was still raring to go, as a persistent rumble reminded him, and with a laugh, Lotor sent them all flying high through the atmosphere into the stars, letting the map guide the way.

"C'mon, girl," he beckoned. "Let's get you home."


	6. What Lies In His Path

"C'mon, Lotor! Just one more stop!"

"Are you kidding? We're almost there!"

"We promise this'll be the last stop before we get to the castle! We just need one more day's worth of food to get us there, because even _you_ know that distance will take longer than it looks."

Silence, and then, "Zethrid, find the nearest rebel-friendly planet."

A round of cheers ganged up on Lotor's ears, and he rolled his eyes in response.

The map to the castle certainly was deceptive. Even with the Black Lion's speed, it had still been a movement-and-a-half and they _still_ hadn't reached the castle. It felt like it was in the opposite corner of the universe from the planet they'd found the crystal and Narti on, and with only so much space, even in Voltron's largest lion, there'd been an abundance of both bonding and frustration.

Perhaps the stop and a chance to stretch his legs would do him some good, Lotor decided after all. Even if it meant putting off seeing the castle for that much longer.

As they traveled to Eylsian, a planet that had managed to stay under the radar thus far on the edges of the empire, Ezor kicked her feet up parallel to the back of the pilot's chair, her head rolling back. The door between the cockpit and the cargo bay had been left open for now to allow for conversation and more space.

"So, Lotor..." Ezor began, watching her toes line up with the welding work on the ceiling. "When are you gonna tell us what lions we're flying?"

Lotor sputtered and turned to look over his shoulder at her. "Excuse me?" Beyond the door he could see that the rest of the team had taken an interest in Ezor's question, though they tried to act indifferent. Way to put him on the spot.

"If we find the rest of these lions, they're gonna need paladins or whatever you called yourself, too, right?" She flipped the order of her feet against his chair, and he could feel the resulting thud hit his back.

Chuckling, he returned his view to the path ahead. "I certainly want you all as my team, but...I don't get to choose who flies who. The lions themselves do. But to have that happen, we have to get to the castle first. And to do _that_, we have to get through this resupply stop that _someone_ insisted on."

Getting the hint from the way his tone grew terse, Ezor waved off the conversation. "Fine, fine. But I wanna be a leg though so I can help Voltron do flips!"

He sighed in exasperation. "Like I said, I have no say–"

"Oh, I want to be a leg, too!" Zethrid chimed in. "Team Legs, baby. You and me, all day."

As the two of them began deciding things that were out of his control, Lotor groaned. At this rate, the castle seemed like a far-off paradise, filled with answers and lion assignments to satiate everyone's curiosity and then some. He was going to make this the quickest resupply he could manage.

"Ezor, Zethrid!" he called out once they landed. "Since you two were the most keen to make this stop, you both can join me in gathering the supplies."

They kept a low profile as they picked up a supply of food for the last leg of their journey, but while Lotor was finishing up paying the merchant for it, Zethrid came up and tapped him on the shoulder nervously.

"Hey, ah, we sort of have a problem," she whispered low into his ear.

"Oh? And what would that be?" he inquired, turning out to look for a likely trivial inconvenience.

Yet what he saw instead was a blue-skinned woman with darker blue hair standing with feet apart, taking aim squarely at his head with a small blaster. In a vicious voice, she leveled, "You _liar_!"

"...That," Zethrid answered belatedly, before they both ducked out of the way of the ensuing blast and took temporary cover amid the market's displays.

"Get to the lion," Lotor commanded. "I'll distract her."

With a nod, the two of them split, and Lotor caught sight of Zethrid pulling Ezor along by the arm as he made for the exit, his pursuant hot on his trail. He had no idea who this person was, but he had to get her away from the crowds.

Through streets and back-alleys they ran, Lotor doing his best to both dodge her gunfire and yet keep it from hitting anyone else. His break came when he turned a corner into another alley and pulled a trash receptacle down behind him in his path. The stranger tripped over it when she appeared around the corner, but he grabbed the back of her collar to catch her and twirl her around to pin her against the wall of the building they were behind, an arm laying over her collar while the other took her blaster and flung it to the side out of reach.

They both were breathing heavily from the chase, but Lotor managed to find his voice first, spying the rebellion's insignia on her collar as he spoke. "Look, I don't know who you are, but would you mind telling me why you're _shooting_ at me when you're a _rebel_?"

"Because you're a liar!" she spat back. "I heard the news!"

He narrowed his eyes, pressing her further into the wall. "What news?"

"Like you don't already now. Sendak got the Red Lion to work!"

The world came crashing to a halt around him, and his hold on her fell as he stepped back in shock. "That's...that's impossible..." he stammered, a trill of fear racing through him. If Sendak, and thus indirectly Zarkon, had control of the Red Lion, they could use him against the empire's planets. To conquer more. To _find him_.

And they would never be able to form Voltron.

The stranger had begun inching towards her blaster, but Lotor turned sharply towards her, causing her to freeze. "Where did you hear that rumor?" he demanded of her.

"Not a rumor," she scoffed. "Transmission straight from the empire earlier today. You were just biding your time until this happened, weren't you? The Black and Red Lions, led by the prince and top commander, wreaking havoc throughout the universe. Probably everything you ever trained..."

Lotor tuned her out.

It had to be a lie. A trick to get him to surrender and scare the empire further in the process, or at least to get him to slip up and reveal his location. There was _no_ way the Red Lion would yield like that, knowing just how much more stubborn he was than Black.

"...well, I'm going to make sure you never get that chance."

The sound of a blaster being charged broke him out of his thoughts, and he turned to lower it fearlessly with a hand on the barrel. "It's a trick," he repeated aloud, more for himself than her.

"How do you know?" She didn't raise her weapon again, but kept it at the ready in her hands.

So, in the middle of a random alley, he told her everything, or as much as he could without risking classified information. Of how he'd _actually_ turned against the empire, dissolving any rumors she may have heard otherwise about it. Of how, all his life, neither lion had budged an inch until his change of heart brought the Black Lion out of her slumber for him. How Zarkon and Sendak had treated the lions over the past couple of millennia, effectively destroying any chance of trust between them.

"If you don't believe me, you're welcome to come see the Black Lion for yourself," Lotor concluded. Perhaps it wasn't the smartest idea on his part, but he found himself trusting her fiery spirit to fight back against the empire, against any doubts.

A small tick of hesitation had him smirking, and he turned back towards the path to his lion, adding over his shoulder, "You know, we could use someone like you on our team. If you want to make sure the empire never gets their hands on Voltron, there's no better way to do so than by helping us gather the lions." He spun around to walk backwards for a moment. "Of course, it'd also be the best way to make sure we _don't_ team up with the empire, if you don't believe me, that is. Your call."

He continued on his merry way, leaving the stranger to deliberate. A few ticks later, the sound of running footsteps answered him, arriving at his side.

There was a pause where a truce settled over them, and she glanced to the side with a begrudging grumble.

"I'm Acxa."

* * *

Arus.

According to their maps that they cross-referenced with that of the crystal, that was the name of the planet where the castle was located. And it was where Lotor, Ven'tar, Kova, Zethrid, Ezor, Narti, and Acxa (who hadn't needed much more convincing to join their cause after seeing the Black Lion in person) were currently arriving.

To say the least, they were stunned.

Arus was a breathtaking planet, peaceful and vibrant even under the cloak of night, as that was the side Black delivered them to. The Arusian moon shone enormous and brilliant in the sky over soft green fields and a sparkling lake, and in between the two, their target stood out like a beacon of hope on a hill: the castle.

The castle's spires sparked with a blue glow that reflected off its pearl exterior in response to Black's eyes lighting up, earning a collective gasp from the team.

They landed in front of the castle, and despite how real his visions had felt, nothing could prepare Lotor for the emotions he felt upon seeing it in person as they stepped off Black's ramp.

_This _was Altea, or at least everything it stood for. Technological majesty, an air of peace and nobility and _innovation_. A sense of scale and adventure befitting of the lion that stood behind them, who roared with a might that sent a shiver down his spine and into his feet. Like magic, like _science_, the grand entrance opened for them.

The team waited for Lotor to make the first move, and with a gentle prodding from Ven'tar, he shuffled forward into the castle, still under its spell.

He had brought the Black Lion home.

He'd brought them both home.


	7. At First Sight

A small part of Lotor had to wonder if this was what childhood was supposed to feel like as he and his team entered the castle. Raw wonder and an innocent curiosity took over, and a series of lights flickered on with each step further into a main entrance hall.

Yet despite the grandeur of it all, it seemed the effect was short-lived for some of his teammates.

"So...now what?" Zethrid asked as they trickled into a huddle.

As if to answer her, a bright light flashed on above, causing some to wince while others held their ground. Seven beams of blue shone down on them all, even on Kova.

A detached female voice instructed, "Hold for identity scan."

Ezor gave him a concerned look. "Uh, Lotor? What's going on?"

"Don't ask me. This is all new to me, too." Still, Lotor craned his neck around, surveying the balcony above them for any signs of life. He would be shocked, to say the least, if someone had been living inside the castle all this time. He glanced over his shoulder to see Black bathed in moonlight beyond the door, as if she would have answers.

More lights flickered on ahead, up a staircase that lead into another hallway. With no other viable options, the team followed them through the castle, through more and more hallways that boasted of the structure's true scale. Eventually, they led them to a rather empty room. Only a semicircle of small raised platforms and a single console in the center of it all were apparent.

As the group spread out to inspect their surroundings, Acxa took to the console to try to activate it, with Narti hovering over her shoulder. Yet as the rest of them gazed about, a pneumatic hiss sounded, and they jumped around to see the two center-most platforms opening. A pair of pods rose from them amid a burst of frost, leaving the room in silent awe.

"Cryo-pods," Lotor breathed. With two silhouettes lurking within. _It...it can't be..._

He dared to make the first move, walking over to the left pod while Ven'tar took to the other, Kova peering curiously around their ankles. As the condensation from the glass cleared, Lotor's mouth fell open in astonishment.

Standing there within the pod, eyes closed in peaceful slumber, was an Altean woman, and a rather stunning one at that. Luscious white locks curled over her shoulders and down her back, and her jeweled headpiece and elegant dress bespoke of nobility. But it was the two small pink marks accentuating the corners of her eyes that held him captive. They were distinctly Altean in the flesh, and..._cute_, he couldn't resist thinking, hands rising to lay against the glass barrier between them in a subconscious attempt to get closer.

So enraptured was he with her beauty that Lotor didn't realize that the glass was evaporating until his hands fell forward from the lack of support, dropping onto her shoulders. The action seemed to rouse her, and he held her up as her legs gave out, her arms falling across his as her eyes blinked wearily open.

"Where– What's going on?" she mumbled in a sleepy, mellifluous voice. A pair of rippling blue eyes locked onto his, leaving him speechless, and a small hint of a blush flashed across both their cheeks, before her senses kicked in. Eyes widening in realization, she pushed him off of her and stumbled briefly back into the pod, before jumping out into a defensive stance with a cry of, "Galra!"

The call seemed to wake the other pod's inhabitant, a tall, orange-haired, mustachioed Altean man with blue marks in a patterned jumpsuit, who answered with a yelp of his own and leapt out past Ven'tar with a kick. His weak legs left him tumbling to the ground, but he was quick to jump back up and twist around to assess his foes.

While the team backed away to give them space, some amused and others confused, the two Alteans drew closer and stood side-by-side between the pods, backed into a corner but ready for a fight.

Lotor brought his hands up slowly to placate them, knowing better than to get any closer. "Please, we know there's a lot to take in, but I'm––_we're_ not your enemies. If you could just tell us who you are..."

Before the woman could say anything, the man held out an arm to stop her. "_Don't_ answer that," he instructed in protective warning before addressing them. "You first: who are _you_?"

"These are my friends," he answered, looking to the team with exchanged glance of uncertainty, before hesitating. He knew what he was about to say would anger the duo, but if there was to be any sort of camaraderie forged between them, he had to be honest. "And I'm...Lotor," he admitted, looking away in shame as he continued, "_Former_ prince of the Galra Empire, and son of Honerva and...Zarkon."

The man's stance eased slightly in some sort of curious recognition, but the woman launched herself forward at him, unleashing a pent-up fury that surprised them all. "How _dare_ you come here!" she yelled in accusation, swinging and missing at Lotor as he backed up around the room, dodging her punches but refusing to fight back. "After everything that Zarkon did to all those worlds, you have _no_ _right_ to be here! Just wait until King Alfor deals with you."

Lotor's blood ran cold as deceptively-gentle hands finally grabbed him and pinned his arm behind his back, a kick to the back of the knee sending him to the ground. His teammates began to run forward to his aid, but he cut them off with a sharp "_don't_" that left them still, but on edge. He eyed the woman over his shoulder out of the corner of his eye, but there was no wrath in his gaze. No struggle to break free.

_She doesn't know._

But the other Altean, a solemn air of grief running over him, did.

"Allura..." he choked out, dropping all pretense of protecting their identities. His lip seemed to quiver under his mustache. "Alfor, h-he..." A two thousand deca-phoeb-old sigh rattled from deep within him. "He went down to fight Zarkon, but...he lost. I'm sorry, Princess, but both your father and Altea are gone."

The resounding sob that followed tore at every fiber of Lotor's heart, and he turned quickly as the grip on his arms loosened to catch Allura's collapsing form, the other man rushing forward to collect her from his arms and settle them both gently onto the ground. He held her close, speaking Altean words of comfort into her ear while one hand ran soothingly down her back.

A muffled plea of "Coran..." broke from Allura against his chest as she grasped at his suit.

After a few ticks, the man, Coran, spoke softly to the strangers standing in the room, requesting, "Can you give us some space for a bit?" As the others began to shuffle out into the hallway, he leveled a fierce gaze at Lotor. "Not you."

Lotor gulped and stood nearby at a respectful distance. There were a million things running through his mind, Allura's heartbreak and a sense of secondhand guilt mixing into the bunch.

This wasn't just any Altean his father had wronged; this was Alfor's _daughter_, the _princess_ of Altea. He'd never heard of her before, which he partly attributed to the fact that he had been an infant at the time of Altea's demise. But knowing now that Zarkon hadn't just taken away the planet's king, but her father, lit a new spark of outrage in him, one that took all his might to keep under control in that moment.

There was also the revelation that he wasn't the only Altean remaining in the universe anymore. Right before him, like a dream come alive, were two full-blooded Alteans, Allura and Coran.

_Coran._

This had to be the Coran that Alfor had mentioned in that vision, the one who wasn't supposed to know about the crystal. Given that he had found the crystal, he figured the wish was void now.

Eventually, Coran gestured for Lotor to come closer, and he did so hesitantly.

"There's a lot we need to discuss," Coran whispered, earning a nod. "But first, tell me: how long has it been?"

Lotor caught onto the implied reference point, and divulged, "Almost two millennia."

"Wow!" Coran whistled is surprise. "And here I thought it was going to be closer to ten." After an appraising look, he then asked, "So, you're really Honerva and Zarkon's kid?"

He nodded again, bracing from the uneasy expectancy of more accusations. But instead, he got a nostalgic laugh.

"I think I remember Alfor coming home all excited and telling me he was going to be a godfather, thanks to you...right before everything happened."

They shared a bittersweet, understanding smile, as Lotor wondered about what could have been with this new information. About sharing two home worlds and about learning alchemy from Alfor in between scientific studies with his mother, while his father trained him to be a respected, yet generous heir to the throne of Daibazaal and paladin to the Black Lion. About growing up with Princess Allura as friends and, given their similar birthrights, perhaps something more in the end.

But this was not the time nor place to be entertaining such fantasies, especially when said princess, whom he had thought had nodded off into her own thoughts, or even exhaustion, against Coran's shoulder, sat up to glare at him with an intense ire that sent him reeling a couple steps. Turning to the other man, she sniffled and declared, "Coran, _don't_ treat him like fam–an ally! He's the prince of the Galra!"

"_Former_ prince," Lotor dared to correct, wincing at the ensuing additional stare-down.

Coran looked between the two, squeezing Allura's shoulder in reassurance, before stepping in as the older voice. "Why don't you catch us up?"

And so, taking a seat on the steps a safe distance away, Lotor did.

He started at the beginning, of how Zarkon had gone on an imperial rampage through the universe, conquering worlds and searching for the lions. He shared some of his own experiences from his unique perspective as scorned prince, and how the Black and Red Lions had fared in the empire's hold. And finally, he told of how a change of heart had earned the Black Lion's trust, and how his new mission had brought all of them here.

Despite how the story seemed to have softened Allura's anger, if only by a bit, her first question afterwards was still full of warranted disbelief. "Wait, so _you're_ the new Black Paladin?!"

Lotor grinned sheepishly, running a hand across the back of his neck. "Yes?" he answered carefully, as if it would ease her.

She scoffed. "Prove it."

"Very well." He stood up, offering a hand back down to each of the Alteans, willing himself to ignore the way his heart fluttered when Allura not only accepted his hand, but the momentum of standing brought her a few steps closer to him.

He led the way out of the room, with the rest of the team trailing onto the procession outside the castle. Black still waited patiently, with a change in the angle of the moonlight shining off her body being the only perceptible difference from before.

Coran laughed in relief and ran forward ahead of them when they stepped outside, spreading his arms out to hug Black's mouth when her chin hit the ground. "Oh, thank the ancients!" he cried. "You're back!"

Lotor couldn't help but let out a laugh of his own. "I take it you were close with the lions?"

"Not just the lions," Coran stated, turning around to motion proudly at the castle behind them, "But the paladins, and the Castle of Lions herself!" He tugged at the lapels of his suit with a hint of smugness. "Yep! They used to call me the Coranic!"

Allura leaned towards him to clue him in. "He was Team Voltron's trainer, and my parents' royal advisor. And so much more, really..." she trailed off, giving the man before them a sweet, appreciative smile.

"Ah," Lotor replied in understanding, turning more towards her as well. "And I take it you're also close to him?"

Nodding urgently, she explained, "He raised me like a second father..."

In the ensuing silence that befell them, Lotor cleared his throat and gestured towards the lion, offering an out from the implied mention of Alfor. "Shall we?"

Allura and Coran watched in amazement as the Black Lion let Lotor in, and they trailed him up into the cockpit. The dashboard lit up as he sat down, taking the controls and guiding Black into a standing position.

"Care for a joyride around Arus, Princess?"

Before Allura could answer, Coran interjected with an enthusiastic, "_Yes!_" over his opposite shoulder, earning a smirk from Lotor and a facepalm from his ward. Yet the paladin still waited for her to give a consenting nod before he guided Black into the air, leaving his team on the ground to watch them fly over grassy fields and, as they soon discovered, a small village that must've belonged to the local Arusians.

When they landed in front of the Castle once more, Coran smiled down at him, slapping him on the shoulder. "Well, look at you! Who would've thought I'd live long enough to see a second generation of Paladins take over, hmm?"

Allura held her chin in pensive thought, staring at a random spot in space before her. "I do have to trust the Black Lion, especially if she held up against Zarkon for that long..."

"Exactly, Princess!" he agreed, before addressing Lotor once more. "Now, how did you say you found your way here, again?"

Lotor perked up in remembrance, leaning down to pull the scroll and crystal out of his bag at his feet. Coran immediately snatched the crystal up, eyes lighting up in long-lost recognition.

"This is the Castle's beacon crystal!"

"The what?"

He looked up briefly, before diving into an explanation. "The beacon crystal. It came from the first Balmeran crystal used to power the Castle, and was integrated with Altean technology to serve as a sort of homing device, allowing the Castle to be located from _anywhere_ in the universe with the power of one of the lions." He laughed towards the sky. "Oh, Alfor, you clever ol' boy. I _knew_ there was a reason the Galra couldn't find us!" He grinned at Lotor once more. "Where did you say you found this?"

"That's what I'm hoping you can tell me," Lotor began, opening the scroll and holding it up. "I'm pretty sure it was the first planet to join the old Voltron Alliance, but I don't know anything more about it than besides what's on this. Can either of you tell me what '_sloven-de-hoe eth aut patrulian_' means?"

"Gone is the beginning," Allura mumbled automatically, bringing the scroll closer to scrutinize it. "This is my father's handwriting..."

Coran, having moved closer to her shoulder, nodded in agreement. "You must've been on Patrulius. The first planet to join the alliance, and the first to be abandoned once the war started in an effort to protect its people."

A pause fell between the three of them, a night's worth of information sinking in and bearing heavily on their minds.

"I'm going to go lock this crystal up for now, and get some of the Castle's systems up and running so we can get some food from the kitchen," Coran continued after a moment, studying the two of them. "Don't be _too_ long, Princess."

"We'll be right behind you with the others, Coran," Allura promised.

With a final cheer and a kiss to the crystal's surface, the advisor left them to gather themselves up so they could take their time returning to the Castle.

Lotor stood up from his seat with a stretch, smirking. "So, need anymore convincing?"

Folding her hands behind her back, Allura's cheeks tinged pink in slight embarrassment, and she shook her head, sighing. "I...owe you an apology. I shouldn't have judged you because you're Galra, or because you're Zarkon's son. I know the Black Lion would never have accepted you if you weren't truly worthy, and so...I'm sorry."

That earned a genuine smile from him, and while he accepted the apology, he supplied, "Your reaction was understandable. Whatever anger you're feeling towards my father, believe me, I feel it as well. I want to put a stop to him and everything he's done."  
  
"Well, I guess we have that goal in common then."

"I guess we do." Lotor sent her a small grin that had her blushing, and him as well in turn as he covered a cough. Whatever spark he felt roaring in his mind, between them in the Arusian moonlight, he could only hope that she felt it, too. "Yes, well. Want to go meet my friends?" he asked, gesturing towards the door.

"I'd love to."

For the time it took to walk back down to the ground outside and subsequently lead everyone up to the dining hall, Allura kept a hand wrapped around Lotor's arm. While she claimed it was due to a case of wobbly "sleep-chamber knees," Lotor could only nod amid the tizzy that had overcome his senses. Ven'tar's questioning smirk was met with a silent scowl on his lips.

Any remaining tension between everyone lifted once they reached the dining table and sat down for some food goo that, despite being well over two thousand years old, was still fresh.

Introductions were made in turn, until Ven'tar seemed to notice the one presence missing from the room. "Wait, where's Kova?" they asked, turning towards Narti as the most likely person to know.

Yet as if on cue, Kova pranced into the hall, chasing after four colorful little mice.

Coran leapt up from the table, scooping the mice up and out of reach of the cat. The tiny creatures panted in the cradle of his hold, peering fearfully down over the edge of his fingers. Narti, meanwhile, patted her lap for Kova to join her, which he reluctantly did.

"Right!" Coran explained, balancing the mice. "I forgot to tell you, Princess. You had some friends put in your cryo-pod before I closed it up!"

Realization dawned over Allura's face. "Ooh, so _that's_ the squeaking I heard in my dreams for all that time. Huh." At everyone's questioning stare, she shrugged. "What? People aren't the only beings that can survive in a cryo-pod."

Lotor merely chuckled at that, taking a sip of the Nunvill that Coran had served to everybody.

What a team he'd brought together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My wonderful GBB partner lotors-saltwife's art for our collab belongs to this chapter! Please check out her awesome piece here and give it all the love it deserves: https://lotors-saltwife.tumblr.com/post/187153101874/it-was-my-pleasure-to-be-partnered-with


	8. To Assemble Destiny

That first night on the Castle of Lions was one Lotor wished he could make last forever.

While there was still that feeling of loss––not only of their culture and loved ones, but of almost two thousand years––present on the newly-awoken Alteans' minds, for a moment everything was...cordial, which was something Lotor hadn't ever truly enjoyed without keeping an eye over his shoulder. With it already so late into the Arusian night, they'd all decided to start fresh on the mission in the morning, leaving the remainder of the evening to get to know each other over a quick meal.

Perhaps the biggest joy of the night, though, was that _everyone_ got to sleep on a real bed for the first time in ages. It took Coran mimicking a yalmor call in the hallway outside of everyone's quarters to actually get everyone up at a decent hour.

That's when their very hectic day began.

The primary order of business was to find the rest of the Voltron lions. And to do that, they needed to know who would be flying them.

Allura had everyone meet on the bridge first thing, and Lotor perked up in recognition as he stepped into the room. _This is where Alfor had handed over the crystal to be taken away and hidden! _The thought both eased and excited him as the meeting began.

"From what you told Coran and I last night, it seems that the Galra do not know we're here. As long as that remains true, we'll use Arus as a base and take the time we need to ensure the Castleship is up and running, while the rest of you find your lions, train, and learn to form Voltron."

There was a slight grumble from some at the mention of training, until Allura brought up an interactive star chart that filled the room with a dizzying array of celestial holograms, leaving everything in awe.

"Now," Allura continued, spinning what looked like a miniature version of Arus and the Black Lion into view. "We know Lotor is the paladin of the Black Lion, and that, of course, she's here in the Castle in her hangar. We also know that Commander...Sendak, was it?"

Lotor nodded grimly as she turned the question to him.

"Right. Commander Sendak has the Red Lion, so we'll need the rest of the lions before we get Red."

Allura then proceeded to assign Ven'tar to the Green Lion, Ezor to the Blue Lion, and Zethrid to the Yellow Lion, based on the previous night's conversation and identity scan when they first arrived. That they had actually become "Team Legs" had Ezor and Zethrid cheering and sharing a quick smooch after high-fiving, their arms resting around each other's shoulders as they waved off the rest of their team's eye rolls.

Lotor, for one, was happy to have Ven'tar as his left arm, which he expressed with a playful nudge that had them chuckling as they pushed back. As Voltron's shield, he was proud to have his best friend covering the his back both on and off the battlefield. But that still left one paladin seat empty.

"And the Red Lion, Princess?" he prompted, sending her into a suspicious fret that she tried to deflect.

"Ah, Red? We'll have to see. He's a rather...stubborn lion, and it will probably come down to him deciding once we get him back."

That had been...odd, to say the least, and earned some strange looks from the team.

Lotor had already discussed earlier with Narti that, once they set out into the universe as a team, he would appreciate her taking a "stealth guard" position aboard the Castle to protect Allura, Coran, and Kova, while also providing tactical support. It'd been a show of trust, a sign of how far they'd come in their friendship during the remainder of their travels, one which Narti had gladly accepted.

Which left only one viable candidate for the position of Red Paladin: Acxa.

It was clear that Acxa was a perfect fit for the Red Lion. From Lotor's understanding, Red was a fiery, quick-tempered lion with lightning-fast movements, just like Acxa. In the short time he'd known her, she'd been quick in her own way to stand up for what she believed in and carried herself like a natural-born leader. She was well-suited to be his right-hand pilot.

Yet before anyone could point out the obvious choice, Allura made haste to change the subject to actually retrieving the lions.

It was decided that they would split into teams of two to go get the three remaining lions scattered throughout the universe. While Lotor would take Ven'tar to go get the Green Lion, Acxa would go with Zethrid, and Narti and Kova with Ezor, in Altean pods.

Teams decided, Allura amazed them all by revealing a magical ability of her own––the ability to make wormholes using the crystal in the Castle. With three wormholes open simultaneously and exerting a strain on her powers, everyone needed to act quickly.

Armed with trackers and with a final farewell for the time being, Lotor flew the Black Lion into their designated wormhole, and he and Ven'tar made for planet Vulpec, the hiding spot of the Green Lion.

Vulpec was absolutely gorgeous. Even from space, Lotor had to admit it was the most luscious planet he'd ever seen. But even as they landed and saw the beauty of the jungle up close, Ven'tar seemed to have additional thoughts on their mind.

"So...you and the princess..." they prompted, a playful tone clear in their voice.

Lotor immediately deepened several shades of purple, trying to deflect the subject as they walked under vines and over roots. "We're here to find _your_ lion, Ven'tar. You might want to save the teasing until _after_ you're sure you have a ride out of here."

They held up their hands in mock surrender. "I'm just saying, a prince and a princess, meeting like that? You two made quite a lovely-looking couple walking out of the Black Lion together."

"Ven'tar..."

"Is that how you two will arrive at your wedding?"

Lotor came to a halt at the top of an incline as Ven'tar pressed past him with a giggle, smirking back at his frozen expression. After his mind caught up a moment later, he kept moving forward, shaking his head. "You know, sometimes I wonder why you're my best friend." Then, as more of an aside to himself, he added, "Besides, with everything else going on, I highly doubt she'll want to be anything more than allies right now."

"Ha, please!" Their laugh, while disbelieving, was not unkind. "And I suppose it was _you_ who made her put her hand around your arm?"

Incriminating silence answered them as they both maneuvered around a thicket of shrubs.

"I rest my case––whoa!"

"Watch out!"

The jungle had opened up to reveal a river, and Lotor tried to grab Ven'tar's hand as they tripped and stumbled into the water, but he was too late. They managed to catch their balance before they fell all the way in, but from their knees down, they were soaked.

Once it was clear they were okay, Lotor could only laugh. "Karma!" he rang out, finally offering a hand back to dry ground.

Yet instead of pulling themselves out of the water, Ven'tar pulled Lotor in, sending water splashing over them both.

"You were saying, loverboy?"

"You _zoblé_!"

Yet despite the name-calling, they were both laughing as they helped each other out of the river and shook off what excess water they could. That was why they were best friends, Lotor thought to himself––only Ven'tar could get away with doing that to him. Things like that were what kept him from getting too serious at times.

They pressed onward, down along the riverbank and on a canoe ride with a surprisingly friendly sloth. Towards the end of the ride, a vine-covered temple came into view, leaving them both in awe, and a growing sense of anticipation coursing through Ven'tar that made their antennae perk up. Their tracker had put them right on target.

Yet once they disembarked from the canoe, turning to give the sloth a thankful wave, Ven'tar turned to Lotor, sighing as they put a hand on his shoulder to give him some advice. "In all honestly, I hope things between you and Allura work out."

He tried to interject that there was nothing _to_ have work out yet, but they cut him off with a grin of casual conviction, slinging their arm all the way around his neck.

"Because they _will_," they assured. "Just make sure that whenever that happens, you talk to her about Acxa flying the Red Lion first, okay?"

"I know..." Lotor groaned. It wasn't a prospect he was necessarily looking forward to, since everyone seemed to be getting along so far, but it had to be done. "And I will."

"Good." They patted him on the shoulder.

A sudden rumble under their feet caught their attention, and they looked towards the ground to see the cracks between stones lighting up with beams of green, leading up to the temple.

"Speaking of things working out..." Sending Ven'tar a proud smile, Lotor urged them forward. "I believe it's time to meet your destiny."

* * *

It took four quintants for Lotor to finally have more than a moment alone with Allura to talk about the Red Lion.

It wasn't for lack of trying on his part, that much could be said. But everyone was so _busy_.

They'd gotten the Green, Blue, and Yellow Lions back to the Castle in one piece––well, mostly. Kova had run into a wild monster of a cat with sharp fangs while Ezor and Narti were looking for Blue on some primitive planet. He was okay, but had been very shaken up, apparently, and left claw marks deep in the girls' shoulders, which earned Lotor quite a few glares when they got back.

Upon everyone's return, Allura took them to the armory to dole out paladin armor and bayards for the four team members that had lions thus far.

Acxa scoffed with a put-out look and crossed her arms over Allura's shoulder, eyeing the clearly-available red armor next to Lotor's. Lotor winced when he saw her expression, shrugging apologetically. With everyone there in the room, it'd be unwise to bring it up and put her leadership skills into question.

Instead, he focused on the feeling of his new uniform, of how it morphed to fit him perfectly and left him feeling powerful. His father may have lost the right to wear it, but Lotor would wear his with honor and a promise to do right by it.

With a half-spin, he turned from his corner back towards the room, stepping forward with the other paladins. Raising his arms to show off the new armor, he asked, "Well, how do we look?"

There were nods and statements of approval, but Lotor took particular notice in how Allura's eyes traveled down his frame and back up, earning a smirk from him when he caught her gaze.

"Wonderful..." she trailed off, before catching herself. "I mean, yes! You all look...very heroic indeed."

After another awkward tick, she moved onto handing out bayards, giving Lotor a regretful look of her own when they remembered that Zarkon still had the Black Bayard. Yet another thing they would have to get back from him. In the meantime, at least, he had his sword.

From there, their days fell into a near non-stop rush of activities. Meeting the local Arusians, fixing up the Castle, paladin training (which _everyone_ participated in, as a bonding activity if nothing else)...with Coran leading most of these activities seemingly all at once, it was a wonder that he hadn't locked himself back up in a cry-pod to sleep for another two thousand years.

Everyone had been cooperative and supportive thus far, bearing through it with their mission in mind, and the chemistry between prince and princess seemed to be blooming by the varga. But the silent rift between Allura and Acxa was also growing, becoming painfully obvious, and on that fourth quintant, it came to a head.

During a round of gladiator training, Allura stepped in to block a shot from the robot that would've caught Acxa off-guard. Yet when the princess whipped her staff around to knock the gladiator off its feet, the tail-end of it ended up hitting Acxa in the shoulder, sending her to the ground with the Altean strength they'd all become quite familiar with during training.

With a fierce growl, Acxa sprang back up and tackled Allura from behind, and before anyone knew it, they were wrestling about on the floor, trying to pin the other down and get a hit in where they could. A distinct declaration of "the Red Lion's _mine_!" could be heard coming from Allura.

The rest of the team rushed to split them apart, Lotor and Ezor holding onto Acxa, while Zethrid did her best to keep Allura back with a bear-hug. But before anyone could try to settle their differences, Allura shrugged Zethrid off, mumbling in frustration as she stormed out of the room.

Lotor sighed, hanging his head. He should've stepped in sooner on day one, right moment or not.

Ven'tar took off their helmet and laid a hand on his shoulder, giving him a sympathetic look. "I think that's your cue," they prompted.

Reassuring Acxa that he would handle things, Lotor left the training deck, only to find himself at a loss. That was one advantage Coran and Allura had on them all––knowing the entire layout of the Castle. Still, after a while, he managed to find the princess on the observation deck, overlooking the Arusian lake sparkling in the afternoon sun.

"You already know who's going to pilot the Red Lion, don't you?"

Allura turned around to find him standing in the doorway, arms crossed, but not threateningly so. Even so, she sneered back at him, still worked up from the fight.

Taking careful steps forward, Lotor continued, "I know it's ultimately up to the lion to decide their paladin, but seeing as how you were deciding all the others so easily, we thought that'd be the case for Acxa and Red as well."

"It's...more complicated than that. You wouldn't understand," she supplied unhelpfully.  
  
_The Red Lion's _mine_!_

Her call played again in Lotor's mind as he finally came shoulder-to-shoulder with her, opting to stare out the window like she was. Coran certainly had chosen a beautiful planet to hide the Castle on.

"I don't mean to overstep, but is it perhaps you might feel left off the team otherwise if you're not a paladin?" he tried to guess.

A small, unsure "no..." answered him, making him think that he was onto something.

"Because we still need you on the team, Allura. You, Coran, and Narti, you're all as integral to the team as any paladin," he continued, turning towards her, his voice soft, but excited. "You especially! Without you, who's going to fly the Castle once we get it up in space? Or make wormholes? Or–"

"It's not that!"

Allura's abrupt cry cut him off decisively, leaving him at a loss as she angled herself further away from him, wrapping her arms around herself. With a sorrowful sigh, she murmured, "My father was the first to pilot the Red Lion..."

"And?" he encouraged, sensing she had more to say.

"And...I just always thought that I would be the one taking over for him when the time came."

The confession hung over them, a grim reminder of Alfor's loss. A stab of guilt rang through Lotor; here he was, having succeeded his father, a ruthless and still-living dictator, as paladin of the Black Lion, while Allura couldn't do the same, even though her father had left behind a proud legacy.

"I'm sorry, Allura," he began, prompting her to turn back around with a hand on the side of her arm. Unchecked tears had welled up in her eyes, making his heart ache. "I'm sorry for...everything, and I wish I could make things different, _better_."

His hand trailed down to her wrist, holding it lightly, and both their gazes followed the movement before he continued.

"But at the end of the day, you and I _both_ know Acxa is the right person to fly Red." Her muscles tensed at that, and he was quick to finish his thought. "And we also both know that _you_ are the best person to have on the bridge, and...I'm sure your father would agree. It's where we _need_ you, Allura...where _I _need you."

Allura dared to look back up at him, eyes watery but grateful, and he brought his other hand up to brush away a stray tear running over her mark. "Thank you," she whispered on a breath, unable to say more.

There was no need for more, from either of them. Lotor found himself drawing closer to her, eyes traveling between her and her lips, until the two of them met halfway in a gentle kiss. It lasted no more than a few ticks, but when they pulled away, Allura's cheeks were glowing, and her expression shook with a shy mix of emotions.

"R-Right, I...I should probably go talk to Acxa and...tell her she's flying Red," Allura spoke quickly, her lips quirking upward in an adorably awkward manner that left him mirroring it. She nearly tripped on her way out the door, turning to capture one more glance of his silhouette framed in sunlight before leaving.

Lotor could only watch her go, his mind running wild with all that had just happened.

That...had gone way better than he could've ever hoped for.


	9. Victory

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: brief graphic description of death

Once Allura had settled things with Acxa, tensions had smoothed out considerably, leaving the new Team Voltron firing on all mega-thrusters. They still didn't have the Red Lion to form Voltron with yet, but the final paladin was able to shadow the others in their lions during flying exercises.

For Lotor, the next spicolian movement consisted of training and helping with repairs on the ship by day, and letting his new romance with Allura kindle by night. Even if they were too tired to do anything, they at least found comfort in drifting off to sleep next to each other, arms pulling each other closer.

But at some point, Coran bounded onto the bridge where everyone was working on one thing or another, and excitedly announced that he'd done it, he'd fixed the last fire suppressor and they were good to go!

With the Castle ready to serve as support and provide quick escape, they could finally go rescue the Red Lion from Sendak's cruiser.

It was time to put their plan into action.

The Castle of Lions took off amid Arusian fanfare on a clear, but windy day, fading into the darkness of space. Allura had found Red's location after a bout of searching for his life-force, putting them on a course that would bring them several galaxies closer to the heart of the empire, and fortunately, he still seemed to be without a paladin, which eased the remainder of everyone's worries about Acxa's reported rumor that Sendak had become his paladin.

Lotor recognized the location on their star chart: planet Rulixo, one of the Galra's smaller quintessence outposts, with several moons in orbit that could provide cover. It would be a risky infiltration, but they had the element of surprise on their side.

After a final steadying breath, Allura opened up a wormhole, taking them to the far side of one of Rulixo's moons. Once they determined that Sendak's ship was down on the surface of the planet, the paladins immediately took off for it, with Acxa, Narti, and Kova hitching a ride on the Green Lion with Ven'tar.

The plan was to catch Sendak's ship while it was docked to the outpost, which was situated on the side of a mountain, so they couldn't retaliate with their main arsenal. The Black, Blue, and Yellow Lions would fight off any auxiliary fighters and clear a path, while the Green Lion would sneak through and drop off Acxa onto the cruiser, with Narti and Kova covering her while they made their way to the Red Lion. Allura and Coran would hold off the few cruisers in orbit, if they were called to action to help fight the lions down below.

Everything was going smoothly. The team was heading down a distance away from the outpost, ready to swoop in and deliver some firepower to the empire, and _finally_ form Voltron.

But once they reached the edge of the plains that met up with the mountains, a beam of purple light cut them off from down below, making them pull their lions up.

"What the quiznak was _that_?!" Zethrid swore over the comms.

Lotor had Black scan the surface for the source of the attack, and his stomach dropped when he saw the culprit: Zarkon, holding the Black Bayard's smoking blaster form in his outstretched hand.

_He knew._

"Of course he would..." Lotor chuckled bitterly to himself. He would've outright laughed at his own naivety if the situation hadn't turned dire so quickly. He had the Black Lion; why _wouldn't_ Zarkon expect him to come back for Red?

As the rest of the team surmised who they were facing, letting out varied gasps and growls of vengeance, he called out urgently to them, "Go! Get the Red Lion! I'll hold him off."

Allura spoke up, having seen the image from the scanner. "Lotor, don't! We can split up to face him together if we–"

"_No_," he cut her off, flying out of the way of a second blast. "He's been waiting for this, for me. If he's here, then there's likely more troops hiding in orbit than we thought. Everyone stick to the plan, and watch each other's backs! As soon as you have Red, we'll leave."

With calls of "copy that" coming in, the team scattered and continued for the outpost, leaving Lotor to face his father, emperor of all that had troubled the universe for millennia.

This was it. He could put a stop to this all right now.

Whatever it took, he wouldn't let Zarkon leave the planet.

Lowering Black closer to the surface, knowing he would have to fight close to actually land his attacks, Lotor began to calculate his options. Save for the stray boulder, there was little to hide Zarkon, with the mountains still a ways off by foot. But he still had the Black Bayard, a powerful weapon that he'd continued to use and further master over the deca-phoebs. In his hands, it was nearly as powerful as a lion.

The only thing protecting Lotor would be his reaction time.

As he got closer, Zarkon's voice, enraged yet smug all the same, rang over Black's comm system, sending a chill down his spine. "So, you found the rest of the lions?"

"Surprised?" Lotor answered back over the speaker, a sneer of his own pride sneaking into his voice. "Like I've always told you, my way of doing things _works_." He fired off a warning shot with Black's tail at that, but it only ended up kicking up a storm of dust around his opponent, who had summoned the bayard's shield.

While the dust settled, Zarkon let out a deep ruthless growl. "I've killed a paladin before, and I _will_ do it again."

Lotor tensed, unable to see anything through the haze until a beam of light came through, sending the Black Lion tumbling backwards through the air. Leveling their course with a grunt, he sprang back into action, flying forward while laying down a line of firepower from Black's mouth cannon.

There was little to be done about the dust, which Zarkon used to his advantage as he favored the bayard's blaster to send off a multitude of shots. As a resort, the only thing Lotor could think to do was to continuously fire, hoping that he would catch a break and hit him at _some_ point.

When the attacks from the ground seemed to cease, Lotor lowered his lion cautiously, hovering just over the plains. He remained on full alert, but a sliver of hope dared to creep into his thoughts.

Had he hit him?

Zarkon had certainly landed a few shots on Black, but she was still fighting, filling Lotor with gratitude.

It seemed the emperor himself was still standing as well when the dust parted. Only now, he was armed with his whip sword, and his eyes seemed to glow with renewed vengeance.

"You are an insolent _weakling_, just like the rest of your kind," Zarkon spat with bitter hatred, sending out strike after strike with the whip as he continued to hurl insults while Lotor attempted to edge his way closer, trying to knock him down in whichever manner he could. "Alfor, your mother, and the rest of the Alteans were a scourge on this universe. They could never handle _real_ power."

The declaration came with a final sharp _whip!_ that sent Black sliding far into the dirt, leaving Lotor panting as the weight of the battle finally hit him. He was tired. Tired of always fighting, and tired of being seen as inferior.

Bracing himself, Lotor closed his eyes and let out a low, sinister laugh, willing his spirit to flow through Black. "You know, all my life, you always thought of me as weak–"

_Get back up._

"–and at some point I figured out why: it was because of my Altean blood."

_Fight to save them._

"I know I'm not perfect––nobody is––but I don't blame my Altean _or_ Galra blood."

_My death._

"The only thing I blame is all your lies that held me back for _so_ long."

_Or my_ **_victory_**_._

A roar and a flicker of robotic eyes lit Lotor's soul from its core, and he opened his to bring Black to her feet, sprinting towards Zarkon in a lightning move. His target tried to dodge, but with a battlecry of his own, Lotor cut him off with Black's mouth cannon, and in the heat of the moment, his Altean marks glowed a brilliant purple.

It took paladin and lion's combined strength to surge forward with each pounce, getting closer and closer until–

He caught him.

In a moment of sheer accuracy, the Black Lion's claws landed on Zarkon, pinning him to the ground.

Despite the desire to rid the universe of his evil, Lotor still winced and looked away. Even in the cockpit, he could hear the _cracking_ and _crunch_ of armor and bone being pierced underneath Black's left paw. The distinct feeling of her weight sinking forward permeated his surroundings, just as the reality of what had happened seeped into his mind.

_His victory, and with it, a new beginning._

Only his teammates' voices coming in through his helmet brought Lotor out of his daze.

"Lotor, you there? We got the Red Lion!" Ven'tar informed proudly, despite the blast he could hear in the background.

"Yeah!" Acxa cheered. "But...Sendak's getting away. Should we go after him?"

Lotor was running out the door and down the ramp to the ground before she could finish her question. "No, not yet," he answered, approaching Black's claws with grim determination, gaze focused only on the outstretched hand jutting out from them. He pried the Black Bayard free from its former owner, marveling at how it transformed into its normal form. Eyes back on the skies, he ordered, "Team, gather on my location. We have a defender to form."

By the time he returned to his seat and the other paladins came into view, a new wave of confidence rolled through him, his enthusiasm matching that of the others now that they had all five lions.

As he gave the command to form Voltron for the first time, the power of everyone's energies bonding together brought a proud smirk to Lotor's face.

Saving the universe? He could do that. _They_ could do it.

They'd already made it this far.

**Author's Note:**

> As one journey ends, another begins... :)
> 
> Wow! I can't believe I finished this, but here we are! 5 years of writing fanfic, and yet this is the first multi-chaptered story I've finished. Wooo!
> 
> First off, a HUGE THANK-YOU and shout-out to lotors-saltwife for being my collab partner for this big bang and for drawing that absolutely _gorgeous, stunning, and beautiful masterpiece_ of Lotor and Ven'tar finding Allura and Coran in their pods for chapter 7. I'm beyond honored to be able to say that you created art for my story, and you're an awesome and super-nice person to collab with! 💜 In case you want to keep staring at her amazing piece (like I do), here's the link again: TK
> 
> You can also check out more of her work on her tumblr (@[lotors-saltwife](https://lotors-saltwife.tumblr.com)) or here on ao3 ([Longpig](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Longpig/pseuds/Longpig)).
> 
> Secondly, a major thank-you to everyone who read this story and stuck through to the end! It was fun to take Lotor on this team-building, lion-finding journey, and to flesh out my own little universe of world-building lore.
> 
> Here's to everyone finding the new beginnings you're searching for, and turning them into the victories you deserve. 💜


End file.
